The 2nd Hunger Games
by emmdog1994
Summary: Follow Ariella, a career from District 4 as she enters the Second Hunger Games along with a brutal career pack and a large quantity of unknown up-starts. Can she follow in her mentor's footsteps? Sequel to "The Beginning of the Hunger Games"
1. Volunteers

**Hey guys, I'm starting something new. I already listen to music when I write, so now I'm gonna start listing playlists that match the mood of the particular chapter. Some songs may be repeated. If you are like me, music can be related easily to literature.**

Suggested Listening:

Unbreakable by Firelight

Maneater by Nelly Furtado

Facedown by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Chapter 1

Eight months ago, I wasn't who I am now. I was Ariella Vanders, daughter of a fisherman. And in District 4, nearly every girl you came across was daughter of a fisherman. But today, I was Ariella Vanders, daughter of a fisherman, and a killing machine. And at this moment, there were only four of those in District 4: Blythe, winner of the first Hunger Games. Viktor Tyson, Blythe's original trainer. Undin, my fellow team mate/ target. And myself.

Three months after her victory, Blythe toured our schools. She rounded up all of the sixteen through eighteen year olds and put us through basic physical tests. Those who passed were invited back and informed that they were being selected for a special mission. We were all very eager to be chosen, but she said that only two would be.

This time we had harder tests, like running a mile, scaling a tree, throwing a ball as far as we could. And once again, I was invited back. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was one of only two who were invited back.

There were no tests this time. Merely a speech about the special mission we were being trained for. Apparently, they were starting a program to control who went into the arena and represented our District. And we would be teaming up with Districts 1 and 2 for the time being.

I had been chosen for this year's games. Undin was to be my partner. And we were going to win… well, one of us would win.

The first thing we had done to prepare was to decide our specialty. Blythe had us pick how we wanted to kill. There were three categories: Distance killers, like her. Combative killers, like most of her pack had been. And Silent killers. The kind that slithered around in the shadows and that killed without them knowing what hit them.

I told Blythe that I wanted to be a combination of combative and silent, but I also wanted to learn to use a bow. She said that that was pretty easy to do, so we got to work.

Undin was solely combative, so we sparred a lot. But he was better than me, so even though our bouts lasted a long time, he usually won. I knew that he would be a fierce competitor if I had go head-to-head against him in the arena.

The whole system was very complex. We weren't allowed to tell anyone except our parents that we were being trained because it was against the rules. But Blythe said it was only a matter of time before the other districts started doing it.

The hardest part was telling my dad. What daughter wants to tell her father that she had promised to enter herself in a fight to the death? Not me…

It was a Friday. I was out of school for the weekend, and I wasn't scheduled to fish until Sunday. Dad was going to sea later that night, so I figured it would give him plenty of time to accept it.

"Dad?" I called as I walked in the door to our small house.

"Ariella?" he called back from upstairs.

" No, its your other daughter," I teased him. Who else would it be? I climbed the stairs to his room where he was dressing in his fishing boots and waterproof overalls. "I have something to tell you dad," I said.

He looked up at me. He could tell that I was no longer joking, that what I had to say was serious.

"I have signed up for something, and you're not going to like it," I said.

"Ariella, don't tell me you are going deep-sea swordfish fishing! You know very well that that is how both your mother and your uncle were killed!"

"No, its not fishing. It isn't even in District 4." As soon as I said this, his eyes grew confused, and his countenance showed unwilling curiosity. "I've signed up to be trained for the rest of this year and then enter myself into the Hunger Games next time the reaping comes."

His jaw dropped and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He stayed there, slack-jawed and wide-eyed for a few minutes, so I just turned and left him to his thoughts.

One of the hardest things for me was becoming Blythe's idea of an ideal girl tribute – a sex object. She said that half of the men in the Capitol sponsor those girls that they would love to be in love with. So thus began my transformation from an ordinary girl to an extraordinary girl.

My long frizzy red hair would not do, so Blythe bought me a hair straightener. It made my hair longer. It fell down to about my hips. I wanted to cut it, but Blythe had a stylist cut it into "layers", making it look thicker, but still just as long.

Then Blythe took me shopping in the merchant part of town. She bought me all new clothes, including three "push-up bras" which were uncomfortable. But I had to admit that by the end of the day, I looked good.

And so I have looked since then. I have trained night and day for the past eight months, and it is all to come down to this. This reaping. I have to be the first one to volunteer.

I hear our escort, Lillianna Laprizz read the name of some sixteen year old girl who walks towards the stage. She has barely put her foot on the step when I say, "I volunteer!"

They beckon me towards the stage. I can hardly contain myself. I am going into the Hunger Games! I mount the stage and look out towards the crowd, every eye on me. And oddly, it doesn't disorient me. I find that I am actually enjoying the attention. I enjoy being looked at, and I am suddenly grateful for Blythe and her additions to my bodily beauty.

They soon draw another name for the boys. It is the boy sitting next to Undin in the eighteen year olds section, but he doesn't look eighteen. He is skinny and has skin problems. He looks up at me, and smiles at me. I laugh as I see Undin stand up and volunteer. The boy's smile falters as Undin joins me on the stage.

They make us shake hands, then we are escorted into the justice building. We each get an hour for visitors.

The room is beautiful. More beautiful than any place in District 4, except maybe Blythe's house. The entire room is teal, silver, and blue, mimicking the effect of moonlight on the ocean. There is a warm fire in the fireplace, but the log burning is driftwood, making the fire blue.

I am still admiring the fine décor when the door opens. The noise startles me, shaking me abruptly from my silent stupor. I turn and see Blythe there. I find this odd, considering that I will be boarding a train with her on it in an hour's time. What could she possibly say to me now that can't wait until that time.

She starts without delay as soon as the peacekeepers leave the room. "Ariella, as soon as we board that train, I am not only your mentor, but Undin's as well. Therefore, I must say something now that I can not once we are on board – do not be afraid to kill Undin. He is naïve, but strong. He is only your team mate as long as you need him to be, then he is your enemy. There is a fine line between taking risks and being stupid. And I'd rather not be the mentor of a stupid tribute, got it?"

"Got it," I said. I was used to this edgy side of Blythe. I had seen her around school before her Games, as she was only a single grade older than I was, and I knew she hadn't always been like this. The arena had changed her.

I struggled to find a word to describe her new persona. Crazy was too strong, but intense was too loose. Direct seemed to touch it, but didn't really wrap around the part that had come out of the arena with her, that part that wasn't there before. It was like she left a little of herself inside, and took a little bit of the arena with her; a little chip on her shoulder.

My father came in next. I hadn't heard the door open, but I turned to face him when it closed. His face was emotionless, but I could see the moist trails the tears had left on his sun-bleached face. It killed me to know that I was choosing to inflict this on him. My only consolation was that I would return home to him.

We didn't speak much. I told him what I wanted done with some of myself as soon as I died, like my pearl necklace. I wanted him to give it to Blythe and tell her thank you. And if Undin were to return and I didn't, I wanted him to give him the shark tooth I had found on the beach. I said this all casually. I was sure I was returning.

By the time I finished saying all this, he had started crying again, silently so as not to disturb me. It was at that moment the peacekeepers came in and escorted him from the room. The last image of my father I would carry with me into the arena was of him crying.

I had only one more visitor – Viktor. He didn't say anything beyond, "You'll need a token in the arena, something to remind you whats waiting for you back home." With that, he handed me a small box and walked out the door.

I looked in the box and found a small hair clip made from beautiful peals, ten of them, all the same perfect size. I immediately put it in my hair.

I waited out the rest of the hour, then Undin and I were escorted to a car waiting behind the Justice building. Undin wasn't crying, but he rejected all attempts at conversation. I wondered what was going on inside of his head… then I figured out that I didn't care. He was probably thinking about how he was going to win the games...

If he had wondered what I was thinking about at that point, it would have been something like 'Yeah, good luck with that…'


	2. All Aboard

Suggested Listening:

I Run This by Birdman (Explicit)

Against the Grain by Akon (Explicit)

What I Do by Chris Brown

TSHG Chapter 2

I hadn't really expected much of a crowd to send us off. Undin wasn't returning, so I don't know why they were even supporting him. They were just getting his hopes up.

Undin and I were escorted by peacekeepers through the mob. When people saw us, they patted us on the shoulder, screaming good luck. One boy shouted out, asking me to marry him. I laughed, and Undin gave me a stern look. "Stop fraternizing," he told me.

"Whatever is up your butt," I whispered, "its crooked." This remark earned me another stern look followed by a short bark of laughter. I hadn't realized until now, but a laugh out of Undin was rare.

Undin was shy in a way. Not the kind of person who cringes at the thought of meeting new people, but the kind that always has something to say, but never says it. It got on my nerves sometimes.

He wasn't a bad looking kid. He was tall with sandy hair and green eyes. He was ripped, but I knew that he was a teddy bear under all of those muscles… except for the part where he was a trained killing-machine about to fight to the death with twenty-three other kids.

We boarded the train. The peacekeepers all but shoved us through the doors. The first thing I did when I got in was to find a window, which was conveniently located next to the door. I put my face up to it and watched as District 4 disappeared, becoming only brief flashes of color. And with one final glimpse of the ocean, I left everything I had ever known.

A pair of boys came into the room where Undin and I were sitting on white couches. They gestured towards the hall from which they had just come. We followed them without a word.

After walking the length of a few cars, they stopped outside a white door. The shorter of the two pointed at me, then at the door. I took this as my cue to enter the door.

When I stepped into the room, the color surprised me – white. Everything was white. The carpet, the walls, the dresser, and doors to bathroom were all white. The only color was the bedspread. The blanket itself was white, but it was embroidered in green thread. On it, there was a mural of sorts.

It depicted the twelve Districts of Panem. Each District had its own picture on the blanket, and yet they were all the same. The elaborate necklace depicting District 1 flowed seamlessly into the trio of lightning bolts from District 2, where they powered a computer from District 3. The keyboard began to drip at the bottom, and from those drops of water sprouted beautiful fish representing my own district.

It was beautiful. I was surprised to see the Capitol allowing this symbol of unified Districts. And why in this place? A place where only those hoping to kill kids from other districts would see. It seemed almost like a slap in the face here, whereas at home it could actually effect hope in the hearts of people.

Despite my disgust with the comforter, I realized how exhausted I was. I threw myself onto the bed, face-down, and fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, there was a small girl dressed in white with pig-tails there. She was prodding me gently on the bottom of my foot. I found this rather odd, but I looked at her, waiting for a message.

She simply gestured towards the door. Rolling my eyes at these very non-communicable servants, I followed her out of the room.

She led me farther down the train. I noticed that outside, the windows were navy blue, the color the sky gets just after it is swallowed by the horizon. Our Reaping was at ten o'clock. That means I must have slept for almost seven hours. Guess I didn't sleep so well last night…

We arrive in a train car domineered by a gigantic dining room table. It is set with the finest china I have ever laid my eyes on, and the entire room is illuminated by an enchanting chandelier. It is so intricate and sparkly. I'm sure I could watch it for hours and never get bored.

Sitting at the table are three people: Blythe, Undin, and our escort, Lilliana Laprizz. They all seemed to be waiting on me, so I took the seat next to Undin.

The moment I touched the silk seat of the chair, servant after servant exited the doors on the other end of the car. Each was carrying food or drink. And they just kept coming. After depositing their dish on the table, they left and returned moments later with another.

Finally, when every inch of polished wood was obscured by the tantalizingly aromatic dishes and tureens filled with ice and drinks, we began eating.

The food was so delicious. I couldn't have stopped eating if I had tried. There were things there that I couldn't have imagined the taste of in my wildest dreams.

And suddenly, my plate was gone. I looked up to see Blythe holding it, and then she spoke. "That's enough, nobody in the capitol is going to sponsor a fat girl. Undin, keep eating. You need to bulk up some more."

And that was it. That was all that was said. Ugh. If only I had known that the days before the games weren't going to be as much fun as the actual time spent in the arena…

After Undin was finished stuffing his face, Lilliana Laprizz escorted us to a small room at the very end of the train. We sat down on a plush couch, and a smooth black screen floated down from the ceiling.

It turned on as soon as it touched the bottom of its descent. I saw the seal of the capitol, and every speaker in the room was blasting the anthem of Panem. We sat, immersed in the huge screen and booming sound system until the end of the anthem.

The face of a man I didn't recognize popped onto the screen. It took me a few second to realize that it was the mayor of District 1.

"Are these the reapings?" asked Undin.

Blythe nodded, then said, "Ready to meet your teammates?" We both nodded.

The mayor called the name of some little thirteen year old girl. Before she even got out of her isle, a tall blonde girl stood up. "I volunteer for tribute," she said in a loud clear voice. They beckoned her to the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you, the female tribute from District 1: Lyliss Eerium," said the Mayor. The District 1 population was going crazy. Lyliss was absolutely gorgeous.

I thought there could be a slight possibility of us butting heads at somepoint.

The process was repeated a minute later after the applause died down. The mayor called some kid who didn't make it to the stage before a massive boy in the back row stood up. He walked, almost ran to the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you, the male tribute from District 1: Adonnis Yewbarrow.

He was the hottest guy I had ever seen.

The entire thing, almost word for word happened in District 2. The girl was only just out of her chair when someone else stood up in the back row, claiming to volunteer. They brought her up, and introduced her as Tara.

She wasn't ugly, but she wasn't pretty either. She was tall and lanky, like she hadn't grown into her body yet. She smiled uncomfortably on stage, but it wasn't received well by the people of her district. You could have heard a pin drop.

Once again, they called a name. A very large boy made his way toward the stage. He was almost there when somebody stood up and for a fourth time, proclaimed their willingness to enter the arena.

They brought the boy to stage, and I saw that he was extremely muscular. He seemed to have baseballs under his skin where his biceps should be. What was more, he looked extremely happy to be where he was. He almost couldn't contain his excitement.

Obviously, the crowd loved him. I almost felt sorry for Tara. It was clear who the favorite was. If I knew that the District I had come from didn't really want me back, why try? But for the sake of our alliance, I hoped Tara wouldn't be psyched out by this.

They moved on to District 3. I was minorly concerned about them. The girl from 3 had given Blythe a run for her money, as had the boy from District 7. But this year, the pair from District 3 looked like… well… they looked like total nerds.

Both were ghostly pale with almost no visible muscle. They looked like they never really got out of the indoors. They probably were both cooped up in factories all day. They didn't look to be tough at all. It seemed unlikely that they would pose a threat to our alliance.

The show proceeded to our Reaping. I was surprised to see the look on my face. I looked so accomplished, like I had just won the lottery or something. Undin was more timid, less happy about volunteering.

Most of the other Districts passed without much commotion. There were some strong looking boys, like the one from District 9 named Kiloki. None of the girls really looked very strong. The girl from 10 named Tellee burst out crying when her name was called, and she didn't stop through the whole reaping.

With one final look at the pair from District 12, the camera faded out and displayed the seal of the Capitol. The surround sound blared the anthem, and we stood up. I returned to my room.

Just before I crawled into bed, Lillianna opened my door. "Get some sleep! Tomorrow is going to be a BIG BIG BIG BIG day!!!" And with that, I climbed into bed, a fell into a deep, merciful sleep.


	3. Anticipation

Suggested Listening:

Imma Star by Jeremih

Flashing Lights by Kanye West (Explicit)

Here by Hellogoodbye

Chapter 3

It was the lack of motion that woke me. The train had stopped, and people were moving about in the hall outside my room. I quickly dressed in a simple get-up before joining them.

I found Undin and Blythe in the dining room, dishing food from bowls and plates, piled high with pastries, fruit, hot-cakes, and eggs. I sat on the side of the table away from Blythe and Undin, hoping to avoid any conversation due to my unhappy demeanor in the mornings. Unfortunately, this seemed to delude Lillianna into thinking that it would be okay to sit by me and plunge straight into conversation.

"You're just going to love the Capitol, dear," she told me, her excitement almost curdling my glass of milk. "Almost as much as they're going to love you," she said. I didn't mind this comment as her first one…

"Why are we stopped?" I asked her.

"We're just gassing up outside of District 1, then it will only be one short hour until we arrive," she informed me. "Once we get there, you'll be taken straight to your stylist, made over, and then the opening ceremonies will take place! Oh! You two are going to make such a splash!" She could hardly contain herself.

When I was full of breakfast, I made my way back into the room where we had watched the Reapings the night before. I flicked on the TV and scrolled through the list of pre-recorded programs to watch. I decided on the recap of Blythe's games.

I saw the Reapings first. Just like in ours, the tributes from 1,2, and 4 all stood up, spewing confidence out their every orifice. I also saw the others, the ones like the girls from 11 and 12 who, with a few more years and a little more courage, would have been crowned. Or the girl from District 3 who was, until the final day, invincible. Or the boy from District 7 who, with almost no training, was a master of a sword. Anything could happen in the Hunger Games.

They showed the opening ceremonies next. The costumes were all so beautiful. Blythe looked exquisite in her coating of silvery fish scales, though I had to admit that the pair from District 1 were my favorites. They seemed to be statues covered in ivy, but the ivy was made of emeralds. I couldn't wait to see what the designers were going to do with me and Undin.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the scores were immediately shown. I saw Blythe and Steffi, the girl from 3, pull elevens from the judges. The boy Apollo pulled a ten, and the other trained tributes scored nines and tens, then the rest were all over the board. The lowest was the girl from ten who received a three.

What did she do for the judges? Juggle?

The presentations then moved to the interviews. They showed snippets of most of the competitors, but they showed large chunks of the interviews of anyone who made it past day eight. Most of Blythe's pack was arrogant, cocky. But then they showed Blythe.

I saw her then. It showed her as she really was before her games. She still had baby-fat on her cheeks, whereas she now had very prominent cheek bones. And she was giggly and flouncy. She didn't look like a killing machine.

The biggest difference was that in that interview, Blythe still looked like a child.

They did a brief review of the pre-arena betting odds, and how the people were betting. Most put their money on Blythe and Apollo, but Steffi and the other girl from 1, Sheek, were holding their own with the audience.

The program moves to the Cornucopia, the bloodiest part of the whole games. I see Blythe and her pack destroy everyone in their path, except for Steffi who catches one of Blythe's arrows out of mid-air.

The next few days went by pretty quickly. Apollo and Cleota "fall in love", and then they ambush some camp and kill three kids. I was in the middle of the ambush on the pack's camp when Lillianna came in.

"We're about to enter the Capitol," she said. When I didn't get up, she continued. "Blythe has instructed you and Undin to appear at the windows and wave at the people as we approach the station."

Reluctantly, I left the warm spot on the couch I had been incubating and followed Lillianna towards the front of the train. As we walked through the halls, I took one more peek into my bedroom. I was lucky to because I remembered the hairclip Viktor had given me. It was lying on the dresser.

Suddenly, all the windows went dark. The lights on the train were still on, but the lack of the sun's friendly rays sent chills down my back.

I walked down to the end of the car and joined Undin next to a long row of windows. I slide in next to him soundlessly, but he turns and looks at me. When I sense that he hasn't looked away, I meet his gaze. It is a gaze that bores into me, almost like he is staring straight through my eyes and into my head.

Without warning, he speaks. "They are going to change us, Ariella. We aren't going to be the same once this thing starts. So I just wanted to tell you, no matter what happens, its been one hell of a ride."

I am so shocked, that it takes me a moment to register that it is okay to look away. I resume staring out the window, and moments later, I am blinded as we exit the tunnel.

There are people everywhere, but they don't look like people. They look like a bunch of mannequins that had an accident in the paint aisle at Home Depot. Everyone and everything is colorful. Gray, the predominant color for clothing back in District 4, only exists here in the forms of metallic silver and glitter.

I smile back at them, as wide as I can. Not because I am happy to see them, or because I hope they like me. I smile wide so that I can't squint my eyes and shelter my vision behind my eyelids.

Before long, we reach the train station. I look through the windows and gaze at the people. They are all smiling with their white teeth, so white it looks painful. They can't wait to see us, to touch us.

Blythe proceeds us out the door. As she exits the train, the people can't contain themselves. They hoot! They holler! They are unfailingly loyal to their champion who has returned to them. And I watch Blythe – the way she holds herself; straight. Tall. Proud.

She is a champion. They are her prize.

"Let's give them what they want-" I murmur in Undin's general direction, not sure at all if he can hear me. "A show." And with that, we walk out the door into the crowd.

They see us, and for the smallest of seconds, the place is quiet. Not knowing for sure if what I'm about to do is appropriate, I lift the corners of my mouth and give them the biggest smile I can muster.

The silence is shattered into a million pieces as they all begin screaming, screaming like they have nothing to lose. I run my fingers through my hair and push out my chest. This merits some wolf-whistling from the men of the crowd. I try to think of it less as creepy than more of an advantage. If they like what they see, they're going to look. Might as well make it seem like I don't mind.

Blythe pulls us to a gold car gleaming. It is the most beautiful piece of machinery that I have ever seen. It almost outshines the sun, and as I step in, I see my reflection in the paint, clear as crystal.

I swing my legs into the car and slide along the seat so that Undin can sit too. Once we are both comfortably inside, the doors close by themselves and the driver takes off. The crowd has parted before us, and he floors the accelerator.

I look through the back window at the crowd, sure that it won't be the last one I will see. Just as I am looking, I see another train pull into the station. And just like before, the crowd begins screaming, screaming for the kids on the train.

The memory of the red-headed girl from District 4. I am "so five minutes ago."

Their loss.

The car takes us through the streets of the Capitol, zooming through smaller, less glamorous but equally shiny automobiles. I can't help but look at all the shops and stores on the street. The windows display objects that look spectacular, but I have no clue what they are for.

Soon the car turns into a dark alley. It is poorly lit, but unlike an alley back in District 4, I am not scared of being "jumped." It still seems safe.

Suddenly, the car starts sinking. When I say sinking, I don't mean like the road beneath us is sinking. It is as though the ground beneath us has turned to water. I can hear the gurgling as the gas beneath us escapes, and the hairs on the nape of my neck rise.

Blythe tells us not to be scared. The road, which I see has turned into the consistency of syrup, is rising – no, we are sinking. Then, with one final ray of sunshine, we are completely submerged.

In a few moments, we begin reappearing in an underground tunnel. It takes only seconds, and we have all four wheels back on the ground again.

The driver, acting as if he did that every day, continues driving without a moment's hesitation. He drives and drives until we reach a door. Blythe instructs me to get out, go through the door, and do whatever my designer tells me to do.

I exit the beautiful car. The moment I am out of range, the door closes itself, and the car launches itself down the tunnel.

The door is tall; elegant. The handle is an intricate swirl pattern. I twist it, and walk in.


	4. Infamy

Suggested Listening:

Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston

So Fine by Sean Paul

Beautiful by Akon

Chapter 4

When I stepped into the room, I was immediately swept into the arms of three eccentric looking women. They all wore bright costumes, and began talking to me as if they had known me my entire life. They introduced themselves as Aleemi, Melora, and Tignee.

They brought me into a large chamber. Everything was white, including a dais in the center of the room. They made me stand on the dais and undress. They then circled me and looked over my naked body which was somewhat disconcerting.

With their inspection complete, they left the room for a small amount of time, and when they returned, they had a rolling cart full of what looked like torture devices.

They took the smallest devices on the cart, two small pieces of metal stuck together, and began using them to pull what felt like every hair off of my body. Later, they took to using pieces of sticky paper to rip what they had missed.

After about an hour, I felt like a plucked seagull. It wasn't a very good feeling, and I was pleased to see that they were done with the painful stuff… for now.

They started working on my nails then. It was amazing to me to see that it could take three people to do one set of nails, but I didn't complain. They started by soaking my feet in a green gel, which after a couple of minutes turned purple and started bubbling which tickled.

When my feet came out of their bath, they were so soft, it felt like baby skin. Then, they pulled out a device that scared me, but turned out to be a nail buffer. It took only ten seconds, but when they came out, all of my nails were as smooth as glass.

They then applied polish to my feet. They selected a sparkly teal color, which suited me. It matched my red locks very well. They then repeated the whole process to my hands.

My hair came next. They rinsed it and washed it with about twenty different products before they were finished. When it came out, they put it in huge curlers. My hair, normally down to my waist, was now down to just above my belly button.

"Oh, Heebee is going to be so happy that he got a good looking tribute this year," they told me. And with that, they left me, standing naked on the dais again, to wait for my stylist.

After a few moments of standing, I was beginning to get bored. No sooner had I been about to sit down than my stylist came in.

The first thing I noticed about him was that he was tall. So tall. He must have been seven feet, taller than any human being I had ever seen.

The second thing I noticed was how strange he looked. He was covered from head to toe in purple and green tattoos. From his ears dangled strange earrings in the shape of purple and green peacock feathers, but they didn't seem to be tangible, almost like he had two holograms floating next to his head at the same time. And to top off his bizarre appearance, he sported two different colored contacts. Following suit, they were purple and green.

Just as I caught myself appraising him, I saw him appraising me. This was a little more awkward, seeing as how I was naked and he was fully clothed. But I stayed still until he spoke.

"You truly are a beauty," he said to me, not meeting my eyes. He continued to look me up and down before saying, "they are just going to lap you up!"

As odd as many girls would find this compliment, I beamed at his approval.

He called the stylists back in, but this time, they were laden with lots of things. Not the things they had before to make my body more perfect, but things like fabric, glue, glitter, and paint. They were going to start putting me into costume.

It started easy enough. They put me in a pair of tights that were shimmery and sea green. Then things started to get intense as they began gluing scales on my leg.

Each scale was about the size of my thumb-nail, and shimmery green. They started on my feet, placing the small, thin scales between my toes, and even on the bottom of my feet. They eventually worked their way all the way up my legs, but stopped just before my naval.

I looked down and saw how exotic my legs looked. They looked exactly like the flanks of the fish we caught every April. I took a tentative step and found that I still had perfect mobility. I walked around the room a couple of times to shake the sleepiness out of my legs, having been standing in the same place for every part of three hours.

When I ceased my walking, I got back up on the dais to resume my costume. They started painting my body with a shimmery purple paint. It didn't completely cover every feature, it just turned my skin a gentle, sparkly lilac. As a final touch, Heebee took two large chunks of my hair and fashioned them over my chest so as to retain some amount of virtue on the stage.

My costume was done, so they started on my make up. I got new eyelashes that were long and had green tips which they told me could only be seen when I blinked. Despite this warning, I tried over and over to see them. I never did.

They finished by applying some powder to my whole body that they told me would make me shine in the dark. And with that, they led me out of the room.

We entered an elevator, all five of us, and the doors closed. Heebee pushed a button, the only button on the panel. I felt the elevator lift off and begin its assent.

The ride was incredibly fast. It took only about five seconds to get where we were going. When the doors opened, I stepped out into a huge antechamber. I saw that all around the perimeter on one side were elevators, twenty-four of them. Along the other side, there were chariots.

Each chariot was pulled by two horses, and they were all decorated subtly. Nothing major, just subtle things, like allowing our district to plaster ours with shells. It was the second most conspicuous behind the District 1 chariot which had been covered by diamonds.

I turned back to Heebee, looking for direction. "Go socialize," he told me.

The place wasn't very crowded, and I didn't know anyone, nor were any of my planned teammates there.

I saw a boy next to one of the chariots. He was tall with very short brown hair. I didn't remember him from the reapings. Perhaps it was his new costume that made him memorable. He was dressed as a cowboy with a lasso. I decided to follow Heebee's advice.

"Hi," I said. "You from District 10?" I asked him.

"Duh," he retorted, but he wasn't making fun of me. "Where are you from?"

"4," I said without hesitating.

"Oh, so that means you'll already have allies," he said, so sure of himself.

"What makes you say that?" I asked innocently enough.

My innocence didn't seem to be enough. "Because that's just what happened last year. Districts 1, 2, and 4 came in, acting like they already knew each other. Then what do you know, they turn out to be the best fighters in the arena. It wasn't hard to figure out that it would be a repeat this year."

"Okay," I told him. "But that doesn't mean I can't be social."

"Umm… it kind of does," he said, pointing to something over my shoulder. I turned and saw that Undin was talking in a circle to the boy from 1 and the girl from 2.

"Okay, well I have to go. Whats your name?" I asked.

"Tzarro," he said without any emotion. "Yours?" he inquired.

"Ariella," I said over my shoulder, and then I turned and went over to Undin. I had to think for a second, but I remembered that the boy from 1 was named Adonnis and the girl from 2 was named Tara. They weren't really talking about anything consequential, just comparing costumes and insulting the costumes of other Districts.

It didn't take long to be joined by Lyliss, the girl from 1, and Bane, the boy from 2. We were complete then. I am sure our costumes all contradicted each other when we stood together, but I was also sure that our group was collecting some scandalous looks that had nothing to do with our attire.

"Did you see those kids from five?" asked Lyliss, the superiority dripping from her mouth.

"Yes!" replied Tara with equal verve. "Dressed as librarians! I know they produce many things, books mostly, but honestly, I think they would have looked better if they dressed as the books themselves!" The rest of the group laughed loudly at this, so I joined in, though I didn't find it as amusing as the others seemed to.

"And that kid from 10!" contributed Undin, and it didn't take long to figure out he was talking about Tzarro. "They dressed him in long sleeves so that they could pad him down with fake muscles!" They all seemed to think this was some scandal, especially the three boys who had been pushing themselves beyond their limits for the past eight months to attain their bulk.

I was lucky that they began to herd us towards our chariots. I hadn't really noticed, but they seemed to be contributing insults in a circle, and it was my turn to dish out on some other district not yet bashed enough.

Undin and I stepped into our Chariot just as Lyliss and Adonnis' chariot rolled out onto the lighted path. We heard the screams for them, like a wave of sound that threatened to reek havoc on the equilibrium of anyone who wasn't completely balanced.

The District 2 chariot quickly followed, their shimmering lightning bolt suits achieving almost as loud of a cheer. The chariot in front of us, District 3, rolled out. Their cheer was half hearted, almost as if they were expecting something.

Just as our chariot rolled out, I remembered what they were expecting.

Oh yeah… Us.

Our cheer was incredibly loud, louder than 2 and possibly louder than 1. It washed away any doubts I had at that point. This was where I belonged. These were my kind of people.

And I was their type of tribute – beautiful _and _lethal.

As we wheeled through the capitol, I waved and hollered, blew kisses and winked at boys I saw. They loved me… It didn't occur to me until later that some of the cheering may have been for Undin. Probably the upper register of screaming…

That still left a decent bass section for me.

I was in love with the attention. I drank it up, swallowed it with a smile and a wink. And all too soon, it was over. We gathered around the circle at the end of the track and listened to the anthem of Panem. I watched the tv screens high above the city during the music and saw that the cameras returned to us a couple of times, more times than any district besides 1.

When the music stopped, we were escorted into the training center – a tall building where we could practice our skills for three days, then receive scores from the Gamemakers.

I took one last glimpse of the crowd outside the doors, still screaming.

'Good,' I thought. 'They'll remember me when I come out!'


	5. Testing the Waters

Suggested Listening:

Miss Independant by Ne-Yo

We Takin' Over by DJ Khaled

Outta Control by Baby Bash

Chapter 5

Undin and I headed towards the elevators, and we got in line behind Tzarro and his district partner, the one who had burst out in tears at her reaping. It was odd because Tzarro made eye contact with me for one moment, then turned away when he saw Undin glaring at him.

We were joined in line by Lyliss and Tara, then later by Bane and finally Adonnis. We all climbed into the elevator together, the last group to leave the lobby. It moved so fast, I felt like I was flying. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to "fly" for very long. We dropped Lyliss and Adonnis off on the first floor, then Tara and Bane on the second floor. Each floor took only two seconds. I suddenly had a stupid urge to be from District 12.

It was this urge that caused me to look at the row of buttons on the wall of the elevator. The numbers didn't stop at twelve. There was a thirteen. I wondered what was on the thirteenth floor.

When the doors opened, we were greeted by Lillianna, Blythe, Heebee, and another man who turned out to be Undin's stylist, Kipp. They showered us with compliments on our costumes, as if we had designed them ourselves.

Undin and I were starving, so they led us to a large dining room table. When we sat down, a touch screen menu appeared on the glass in front of us. We scrolled through pages and pages of food, all of it sounding delicious, but I finally decided on something that seemed remotely familiar – Saffron salmon over a bed of wild rice and asparagus. Only the fish was familiar, but it still reminded me of home.

Undin ordered the largest steak on the menu. Our food came out at the same time, and he wasted no time to start eating. I too was famished, and I dug into my plate. I felt like this would be my last meal, like food would suddenly disappear if I didn't eat it. And it did disappear.

"Nobody sponsors a fat tribute," reminded Blythe. I scowled at her, sure that I wouldn't get fat if I just finished my meal. It was completely healthy!

After dinner, all of them decided to rewatch the opening ceremonies. I decided that I'd not. I was very angry with Blythe for taking my dinner.

I put on a pair of flannel pants and a tank top, and I crawled into bed. It took all of thirty seconds for me to realize that I wasn't going to be able to sleep.

I walked out into the dining room, and ordered a cup of hot chocolate. It came out, and it was delicious, but just a little bit bitter. I asked the attendant if I could have a little bit of sugar to put in my drink, but he told me Blythe had banned the uses of sugar and any kind of fat in any of my food.

By this point, I was fuming. I decided that I needed out of our apartment. I walked to the elevator, entered, and pressed the thirteen button.

When the doors opened on the thirteenth floor, I found nothing but a flight of stairs and a door at the top of them. I climbed the stairs and walked through the door.

I was greeted by fresh air. It felt wonderful after being stuck indoors. I was on the roof, and I could see miles out around me. I felt free.

It took me a couple of seconds to realize that I wasn't alone on the roof. I saw a small garden, and in it, there were two people. I recognized Tzarro immediately, and then I remembered the girl there was his district partner Tellee, the girl who had cried all through her reaping.

I walked over towards them tentatively. I didn't know if I was walking into something private or intimate or whatever. Tzarro smiled at me, so I took that as an invitation.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked me.

"Getting away from Blythe," I told him, positive that he would know who Blythe was.

"Why would you want to get away from her? If I were you, I'd be getting as many tips as I could before the games," he told me.

"She is just getting a little bit too serious about this whole thing," I said, and I launched into the story about her not letting me eat sugar or enough of anything. Tzarro and Tellee both thought it was funny, especially because both of them were sure that people in the capitol were all ready to kill to sponsor me.

Tellee seemed a little bit quiet, but didn't seem as weak as I had assumed she was. She was intelligent and kind. I was soon as comfortable with her as I was with Tzarro.

It occurred to me that I would be in big trouble if Blythe or any of my allies knew where I was. "We have to keep this a secret," I told them. I told them how detrimental it could be to my game plans. They told me they understood, but I still made plans to meet up with them on the roof again the next night.

I walked back inside and took the elevator back down to the fourth floor. Nobody seemed to notice me when I stepped out of the elevator. Nobody seemed to have noticed my absence. This suited me just fine.

Still dressed in my pajamas, I crawled straight into bed. I slept dreamlessly, and for what felt like only a couple of minutes.

I was shaken awake the next morning by Lillianna. I rolled over, releasing a groggy moan as I looked at the clock, seeing that it was nine o'clock. Remembering that training started at ten, I dressed quickly in a pair of tight, black running pants and a tight blue t-shirt. The blue didn't go with my hair especially well, but I made it work.

Blythe had already laid out my breakfast for me – a banana, half of a bagel, and a link of sausage. I took it without complaining, knowing that complaining would get me nowhere… and that there would be a buffet at lunch where there was nothing Blythe could do.

I waited for Undin by the elevator. He was taking this _very _seriously. He kept running back into his room, remembering certain things, like wearing deodorant and to turn his socks inside out and stupid stuff like that.

When we finally got into the elevator with Lillianna, we were running late. The doors opened, and she all but shoved us into the training hall. We were the last District besides District 6. When all were accounted for, the head trainer started telling us how our training would work.

We would have three days to train at any of the stations we wished, then we would have a private session with the Gamemakers to show them our skills. From that session, they would give us a score between 1 and 12. These scores would be a very big part in the amount of sponsors we got.

Lost in my day-dreaming, I missed the part where we left the group to go to stations. I found myself standing all alone in the middle of the room, staring at the wall. I was attracting some strange looks, so I looked around for a familiar face.

The first face I found was Tellee, but I didn't want to learn how to make fire – the station she was at. I cast around for another, and I found Lyliss and Tara at the sword station. I made my way over to them and trained with them.

The trainer there showed us some moves I hadn't used before, but Tara and Lyliss both seemed like pros. They both sparred with the trainer, taking turns, and they both almost beat him. Then it was my turn. He had me disarmed within a minute, but I still felt good about myself, seeing as I wasn't the type of fighter that used a sword or any type of brute force for that matter.

Next, Tara and Lyliss wanted to go to the mace station, another weapon I wasn't great with, so I ditched them and made my way over to the knife throwing range. I had only been throwing for about ten minutes when I was joined by Bane.

Bane was nice. Unlike Tara, his district partner, he didn't seem overly cocky, and you wouldn't think he would be a brutal killer if you just walked up to him on the street… except maybe for his arms. They were the size of fire hydrants.

Together, we threw knives for another two hours. We talked the whole time, but not real talk. It was the kind of talking you did when you were stuck together with the friend of a friend who you only knew by reputation; slightly awkward, but polite and voluntary.

Bane wasn't much of a knife thrower, but he confessed to me that he was hoping not to show Undin and Adonnis his sword fighting, spear throwing, or wrestling skills before we made it into the arena. He didn't want a target on his back. If he had been thinking, he wouldn't have told me. I now knew that he was stronger than both Adonnis and Undin.

We stopped throwing when they called us for lunch. I filled a tray, and when I turned around to face the room, I was met with the cliché feeling - where do I sit? I saw on one side of the room Tzarro and Tellee sitting together. On the other side, I saw Undin, Bane, Adonnis, Lyliss, and Tara.

I thought it was safer to sit with the latter choice. Sitting with the kids from District 10 would surely come across as mutiny. Plus, I knew it was a bad idea to get attached to anyone besides my pack.

After lunch, we resumed training. Adonnis and I shot bows for most of the afternoon session. He was almost as good as I was, staying only ten feet further down the range than I did. I was wary of this skill, because I knew how potent he was in hand-to-hand. If it came to hand-to-hand against any one of my pack I had very little chance.

Lyliss and I tried spear throwing next. Neither of us had ever picked up a spear, and I regarded it as a "forceful" weapon, so I wasn't expecting to be very good; on the contrary, I was a natural spear thrower. It felt just like an overly-large arrow without a bow.

At the end of the day, I was exhausted. It was a long day, and I couldn't wait to get some food in me.

Dinner for the others: A slab of salmon the size of a gravestone on a bed of wild rice and slathered with a spicy sauce called curry and veggies.

Dinner for me: A hunk of salmon the size of my fist. A cup of wild rice the size of an egg. One stalk of asparagus. One bowl of corn.

I was honestly about to turn up my nose at even that just because of the unjustness of it all, but I was so hungry, I couldn't manage that small act of defiance. It was good, but I could have eaten five plates of the same size.

During dinner, Blythe interrogated us about training, asking what we did, who we did it with, and she actually scolded me for eating too much at lunch. I was fed up with it all. This was not how I had imagined my five days in the capitol.

I snuck out an hour later to go hang on the roof with Tellee and Tzarro. We didn't stay very long this time because it was cold and windy on the roof, but I promised to meet them the next day. I also apologized for not socializing in public with them, and they told me that they understood that for the time being, I should just train with my pack. I thanked them for being so understanding.

I slept very soundly that night. Nightmares didn't touch me. I was oblivious to anything around me. It was wonderful.

**Hey Guys! If you are reading, and you got to this point, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review. I don't want to write if nobody is going to read it. So I am on my knees begging you, please review. It just brightens up my whole day when I get one. **

**Also, I know this is kind of dragging on a bit, and that is why its taking me so long to write. Its difficult to make the parts in the capitol different, because they all follow the same sequence of events. It's a bit like a laundry list right now, but it should pick up once they enter the arena. Keep reading, and I hope to hear from you soon. **

**Emmdog1994**


	6. Training

Suggested Listening:

From Nothin' To Somethin' by Fabolous

Right Round by Flo Rida

Run this Town by Jay-Z (Explicit)

Chapter 6

I was thoroughly annoyed when Lillianna came in to wake me. She informed me that it was time to eat breakfast before going down to training. When I didn't respond, she just let me be… until she ordered an avox to pour a glass of water on me.

I was out of bed, crouched to defend myself from the attacker, but where that attacker should be, I saw only a small woman with black hair to her shoulders, cowering with a glass in her hand. It took me a few moments to come to the realization that this was a creation of Lillianna's to get me out of bed, but when I did, I stood erect immediately and dismissed the now distraught woman.

It surprised me how quickly I had been roused to action. Maybe my head was more in these games than I had imagined…

Quickly adorning a pair of tight fitting black shorts and a tight pink shirt with a very low neckline, I hurried down to breakfast where I found Lillianna, Blythe, and Undin waiting for me. I was not surprised by the meager plate of food in front of my chair. My meal consisted of scrambled egg whites, two pieces of lean bacon, and half a pink grape fruit.

We didn't talk very much. I didn't care, not seeing how talking could benefit us right now. Undin and I knew the plan, it wasn't very hard to figure out. Train with lethal weapons, flex your muscles. Basically, scare the crap out of the other tributes.

But no, that wasn't the whole plan. I kept forgetting that the tributes weren't our only audience. We had to show the capitol what we were made of. Right now, all they knew about me was that I was good looking. But with a good score in training, they would know that I was a good bet, someone who could potentially come back.

I was still thinking about this when I got in the elevator with Undin. He seemed to notice my deep reverie, and woke me by snapping his fingers in my face. When I exited my ponderings, we had a good laugh until we reached the bottom.

Someone who had been standing outside the doors would not have seen anything. By the time they opened, we were stone faced, chins a little higher than parallel to the floor. As if we were above it all.

We casually strolled into the training hall, arriving near the front. It looked as if we were the fifth district to arrive, but that was just a guess. I was too lazy to count the heads.

As we waited, Undin and I discussed what we wanted to train with today. He and I hadn't been taught anything about survival, and we were hoping we wouldn't need to, but we decided that an hour on survival couldn't hurt.

When all the districts had arrived, we were allowed to start. It was clear from the looks of incredulity on the faces of our pack that they didn't share our thirst for knowledge of survival. Their surprise wore off after a while, and they became unconcerned with us.

The edible plants gave us some trouble, but Undin and I both got it after a while, finally passing the test with minimal "deaths." We weren't actually allowed to eat the plants, but who wanted to? We'd only be eating these under the worst circumstances during the games.

We moved on to tying knots. The only real things we learned were how to tie up prisoners in knots that they wouldn't be able to escape from and how to tie nets together. The nets didn't seem very useful, especially because they took so much time, and a lot of rope. It was a waste, and I didn't expect that I would be using a net in the games.

The final survival station we went to was fire making. It was frustrating, scraping a knife on a piece of flint, hoping to create a spark which was hard enough. To make it harder, you had to catch the spark with the tinder to set it ablaze. I gave up after ten minutes, and I stormed across the room to join Tara and Bane at the offensive anatomy station.

The instructor at that station looked like a nerd. He seemed to be some science guru who knew everything about the human body. He taught us first weaknesses, then strengths. He showed us the paths that blood took from the heart to various appendages, and how if arteries were severed, they could cause almost irreparable damage.

It was a very educational lesson. At the next station we went to, archery, I stopped aiming for the heart of my target dummy – I had learned that the heart was very well protected by bone and muscle and it is hard to puncture without a lot of force. I began aiming for the eye, neck and groin which were less protected and more vascular.

The archery instructor seemed impressed by my aim, but not as much as Lyliss was. She saw how good I was at it, and I'm sure she saw Blythe's training in me. Just like my mentor, I could hit a target with almost perfect accuracy. The difference was in the quantity of my skills – Blythe could use any weapon with accuracy. I was limited to knives and arrows.

Out of breath, I made my way over to the unoccupied wrestling mats. The instructor stood to instruct me, but I told him I just wanted to take it easy for a while. He sat back down on his bench, looking a little dejected, and resumed watching the rest of the tributes about the room.

I began stretching, just like I used to do every time before training with Blythe. The habit had been swept away with everything else that I _used_ to do, like eating and talking. It felt familiar. It felt absolute.

It felt like home.

It wasn't long before I was joined by Tara. She liked my idea of kicking back for a while, so she too began stretching.

She wasn't nearly as flexible as I was. I had been doing this for years, not just since Blythe came to train us. I had been compared to gymnasts of old, the kind that could flip around, spinning, and come up with a perfect smile. I too could bounce around, do a backflip with a cartwheel and a heavy running start. But I didn't feel like showing that. I didn't think it would be very scary, watching a frilly little girl jumping around.

When lunch was called, I felt all stretched out, like an old sweater that can no longer retain its shape. I bounded over to the dining room, feeling free; loose.

At lunch, I received a few jokes about my stretching stint, but underneath the insults, I could hear a little bit of shock, and an even smaller amount of amazement. It must have been a bigger deal than I made it out to be.

I didn't see what everyone was making a fuss about. It wasn't like flexibility would help me in the games, not unless I were to swing on vines or something. But then another idea struck me. Perhaps there was another way that flexibility could be to my benefit…

Before I had time to dwell on this in depth, the whistle blew and it was back to training. Adonnis and I tried our hands at dart blowing, but we were both terrible. We left the station laughing our heads off after he hit the trainer in the thigh who had been standing five feet to the right of the dummy; luckily, the darts were not poisonous and the points had been dulled.

I finished out my day swinging maces with Tara. Just like the time before, she outclassed me, but not by as wide a margin. When the trainer and I sparred, it took him about thirty seconds longer to disarm me. He disarmed Tara in about five minutes.

After training, Undin and I rode the elevator, completely pooped. It was all I could do to support myself, and the first thing I did when I got back to our floor was take a shower. I had an avox help me set the settings to a constant flow of constantly hot water. I sat down under the stream, wishing I had brought a water-proof pillow.

It began to get boring after about thirty minutes, so I turned off the water, stepped on the drying pad, and let the machine straighten my hair. I dressed in green flannel pants and a blue t-shirt, hoping I would not be made to wear something else before going to bed.

I was climbing into the elevator to go visit the pair from District 10 when Blythe saw me. She all but dragged me by the hair to my room, demanding to know where I had been heading. I didn't squeal on Tzarro and Tellee, but I doubted whether Blythe would allow me to see them again, especially because it was trashing her chances at a repeat District 4 victory.

I was forced into my bed, and I submitted to sleep in a few minutes. Unlike the night before, this sleep is not peaceful and dreamless – I toss and turn, coming in and out of a nightmare. I was in the arena, the one Blythe was in, but instead of the tributes in my year, I see the members of her pack, and they are all attacking me.

For the first time, I realize what it must feel like going into these games alone like almost every tribute besides District 1,2, and 4. It must be horrible. The prospects of taking down a pack of six trained fighters are astronomically low. What must it be like to have no hope.

As disturbing as this dream is, I don't let any part of it show on my face when I wake. I easily put on a mask, hiding my anguish from the world. I dress in a pair of black, skin-tight shorts and a blue shirt over which I wear a sleek silver running jacket.

For breakfast today, I have a small bowl of oatmeal with ten green berries and five purple berries. I also am allowed one glass of milk. It is decent, but I'm not allowed any sugar and the oatmeal is bitter and bland.

We head down to the training hall for the last time; we do not joke on the way down this time. We know that today, we must stand out. We must attain high scores.

'What if I don't get a high score?' I think.

The thought catches me off guard. Sure, I wouldn't get as many sponsors, but what about my alliance? Would it still be intact? Or would they oust me?

'Just get a high score, and you don't have to worry about it.' I consoled myself.

We arrive in the middle. Some districts have arrived, others still making their ways in. We wait around a couple of minutes until all are accounted for, then they release us to train as usual.

I start off as I did yesterday, planting myself down on the mat and stretching out every muscle. I then do some basic tumbling; nothing too flashy so as not to give my real abilities away. Regardless, I get stares anyway.

I then work on a combination of knife throwing and archery to prepare for my private session with the gamemakers. I'm going to have to be on the top of my game if I am to be successful.

I'm alone most of the time. Occasionally Tara or Lyliss will come ask if I want to do some station or other with them, but I tell them that I'm sticking with these two to prepare.

Pretty soon, we are called to lunch. I sit with my group as I have always sat, but I cast a pained look of apology at Tellee who seems to see the sincerity in my eyes. She has forgiven me.

I look at Tellee again this time, having never truly studied her. She has a constant crease of worry across her forehead. She has makeup heavily applied that _almost _erases the canyon made by tears.

The memory of watching the reaping video comes back. Tellee was the girl who broke into tears and couldn't control herself. She was so distraught, she couldn't even find her way off the stage. And now, I guess she seemed to be getting over it a little, but I was sure that I didn't really want her in an alliance.

They called Adonnis in for his private session with the gamemakers. He was followed by Lyliss, then Bane, then Tara. The pair from District 3 both went, then Undin went. When those fifteen minutes were up, an Avox retrieved me, and escorted me back into the training room.

I saw the gamemakers sitting in their suite, all with decadent food in front of them; however, despite the delicacies, they were all eagerly watching me.

I made my way over to the archery range. I selected a standard bow and a quiver of arrows which I slung over my shoulder. I didn't shoot any of them, I only made my over to the knife throwing station, and I loaded my belt full of knives.

The gamemakers seemed intrigued. They must have been wondering why I wasn't shooting or throwing yet.

I ran over to the monkey bars. This was the most crucial point.

I began to swing from bar to bar. When I was in the middle, I stopped, grabbed a knife, and, with one hand still holding me up, began throwing. I threw at the dummies for the blow gun station; they were the closest dummies, but still a good fifty yards away.

When I had only two knives left, I swung my body up on top of the bars. From there, I pulled out my bow, and I began firing at the archery dummies, almost a hundred yards away. I got pretty lucky – from that distance, accuracy is very difficult. I was merely trying to hit the dummies, but they all landed in great places like the eye, neck side, and groin.

For my big finale, I did a front flip off of the bars, landing like a cat on the ground. I strew my bow and quiver of arrows on the floor, and began a long, difficult tumbling pass across the floor.

When I had come to the end of the pass, I arched my back, my head nearly touching the floor. I grabbed both knives, one in each hand, and threw them both, upside down, at the punching bag thirty yards away. They both stuck with a satisfying thud sound.

I looked up once at the gamemakers. They seemed very satisfied; a few were trying to contain smiles. The head gamemaker told me I could go.

**Hey guys! Hope you liked the chapter. Sorry it took so long to update. You have no idea how hard it is to make a unique training session lol. Please review if you haven't… And I wouldn't mind reviews even if you've already done it. But I just love reviews, they are just like little rays of sunshine that brighten my day.**

**I really hope you guys are enjoying the story. I still haven't figured out a solid idea for the arena yet. I think I've narrowed it down to two… not sure yet though, so if you guys have any ideas, send me a private message! (Don't be the idiot who posts it on the review boards cuz everyone sees that, and I won't pick it!) **

**Next chapter should be up…. Umm… sometime in the next week or two. But after that, updates should be way faster cuz it's the games! Those are so much easier to write. So keep reading, talk to you soon!**

**Emmdog1994**


	7. Julius Avery

Chapter 7

I hit the elevators running what felt like 100 mph. The Avox barely had time to open the doors before I was already inside. The adrenaline surged through my veins, setting my fingers into a fit of tapping against the glass before the doors opened on my floor.

Blythe was standing at the doors, and I hadn't even stepped out of the elevator before she asked me how my session went. I told her in vivid detail how I had swung and thrown and shot. She seemed to be pleased, but I couldn't be sure because she was so good at hiding emotion.

We ate dinner early that night. I was given one chicken drumstick with the skin removed, ten carrots, a slice of tomato, and a glass of milk. When I asked for seconds, I was denied except for milk. I was allowed to drink as much of it as I wanted.

I spent a while in my room lying down. I was so exhausted, and I so anxious to see my score, I was totally drained. When I couldn't take it anymore, I decided to go into the T.V. room to wait.

I hopped on the couch and grabbed the sleek remote from the spindle-legged table next to my arm rest. I found the button labeled power, and the T.V. glowed to life.

The channel that came on was, surprisingly, talking about the Hunger Games. They kept running scenes from last year's games while the announcers talked about how this years games would stack up. They seemed to think that there was no way such an intense scenario could be repeated.

The subject then switched to betting odds. Since scores hadn't been posted yet, they were based on things like size, age, district, and opening ceremony costume. I saw that I had the third best odds at that point. Undin was first with odds of 1 to 8. He was followed by Adonnis with 1 to 11. I came then – my odds were 1 to 13. We three were followed by Bane, then Tara, then Lyliss.

Obviously, our training was not as secret as we thought.

It also surprised me to see that Tzarro followed Lyliss and that Tellee came third to last. Her cow-herder costume had not been as endearing as it had been on Tzarro and she had been in tears almost every time she was in public.

When the betting odds had been thoroughly dissected for each tribute, they went on to talking about how certain district's trades could help their tributes: District 1 valued beauty almost as much as the capitol, so their tributes were beautiful and got sponsors easily. District 4's tributes knew how to swim. District 7's all knew how to swing axes.

Blythe and Undin joined me on the couch just as the attention was turned to the scores which were all posted. They showed a picture of the tribute, and his or her score flashed beneath. The first picture I saw was Adonnis. He scored a nine. Lyliss scored an eight, Bane got a ten, Tara got a nine. The pair from District 3 scored a four and a five. Finally, Undin's picture popped up. Beneath it, the number ten flashed. My picture followed, and under my picture flashed the number eleven.

I was so happy that I screamed. This was great. I would now surely have the best odds of any tribute, and the one's with good odds were more likely to pull sponsors.

My joy was so flowing that I hardly paid attention to the other tributes that flashed up on the screen. I only noticed when they scored high. The boy from 5 pulled an eight, the girl from 6 pulled a seven, and the pair from eight got matching nines.

I paid full attention when District 10 came up. Tzarro, I was happy to see, somehow got a nine. Tellee, on the other hand, scored a dismal four. Finally seeing that all from Districts 11 and 12 scored moderately low scores, I let my joy encompass me.

I took a long hot shower, singing the words of songs I hadn't sung in years at the top of my lungs. I was on top of the world. Nothing could pull me down.

When I was finished and electronically dried, I dressed in my pajamas and went into the kitchen. Blythe was there eating a bowl of purple berries in ice cream.

"Please, Blythe," I begged, considering whether or not getting down on my knees was overkill. "may I have something more to eat?" She considered this for a while, then nodded.

She then turned her attention to the attendant. "Get another one of these for her," she said, motioning to her bowl. "Only switch out my drizzle berries for some slices of banana and cubes of apple."

Today was going so well for me. I got my eleven, and now I was going to be allowed to eat ice cream. _ICE CREAM! _This was a rare treat at _home, _and I never thought I'd be allowed to eat it on my diet. Blythe must have been more pleased with my score than she let on.

When the attendant returned with my treat, I dug in immediately. It was delicious, and I soon emptied the whole bowl. I looked up from the empty dish and saw that Blythe had left me. I handed the attendant the dish, then headed to bed.

The next morning, I wasn't roused; instead, I was allowed to sleep as late as I wanted. I was finally shaken from unconsciousness by the sun. High in the sky, it had slowly crept through my window, along the floor, and had finally slid over my eyes. I looked at the clock – it was eleven o'clock.

Groggily, my feet carried me to the bathroom, then, having finished, to the dresser where my hands dressed me. I didn't do anything especially fancy, just some khaki short shorts and a navy tank top. I pulled my hair up in a sleek ponytail, and headed for the dining room.

I was the last one there, and as I pulled out my chair, I was immediately stood up again and escorted into another room by Lillianna. "We've got to make sure you don't embarrass yourself in public," was all she told me.

It turned out that "not embarrassing myself in public" meant walking in six inch heels and keeping my head up with a mountain of hair and clips on it.

It really wasn't that hard. Sure, the heels got the best of my equilibrium at first, but they didn't take long to conquer. Lillianna told me that I naturally had good posture, so that was one hurdle we wouldn't have to jump. Finally, when she pronounced my smile capable to live T.V., I walked back into the dining room where Blythe was reading Undin questions from a gargantuan stack of note cards.

When they caught notice of me, Blythe shooed Undin towards Lillianna's room so that she and I could begin. As Undin's stepped through the door, Blythe looked at me and began talking.

"You need a strategy for your interview. With your body, we could try sexy, seductive, or perverted. But with your score, we might want to try something with more _grip, _something that will have the capitol thinking about more than your curves."

"Well," I started. "Can't I just be myself?"

"Are you _serious?!" _spat Blythe. "You are far too innocent. That would completely… perfect!" she exclaimed after a slight pause. I could almost see the light bulb ignite over her head. "Here is the plan…" she told me. "You are going to start the interview by being innocent. Act as though you are a little girl from District 4 who has no idea how she got that eleven and wouldn't ever hurt a fly. Then, during the last minute, turn it around. You are a sexy dominatrix that will kill without a second glance."

"Wow, that would certainly catch my attention." I told her. We spent the next hour and a half going through three minute interviews. I knew how to play both parts perfectly, but finding a transition was often difficult. It was very difficult to spin the question, 'So you live with your father? What does he do?' I hoped they would give me something I could work with.

As soon as Blythe gave me a passing grade, I was whisked off to get dressed. The prep team had me take another shower, then began doing my nails and hair. I noticed that on my nails, they added about an inch to them, then coated them with a paint that made them look as if they were made of ice.

Heebee then came in, holding not one, but two costumes in his hands. He made me close my eyes as he put the first one on, then the second. When I opened my eyes, I was dressed in an ice blue jacket that zipped up to my neck. It was beautiful, but not sexy in the slightest.

I also had on a matching skirt that went down to my knees. When I examined carefully up close, I saw that the skirt was attached to the jacket.

"When you reach the turning point in your interview, take this jacket off. The skirt will come with it, and you'll be in your _real _costume."

I was curious, but I resisted the urge to look at my second costume in the hour before we went down to the interview. Finally, we all piled into the elevator and made our way down.

Undin and I joined the mob of tributes in the lobby, and our stylists, Blythe, and Lillianna all followed the cue flooding to join the crowd. We made small talk with each other, but when all Districts were present, we were led out the doors to a small area behind the stage.

After a few minutes, we heard the crowd roar. On the small television set up for us so that we could watch each other's interviews, we saw that our host, Julius Avery, had just walked onto the stage.

Julius spent a couple minutes amping up the crowd. They were very excited when Lyliss joined Julius on the stage. Her approach was very predictable – sexy and seductive. If she had more time, I am convinced she would have found a way to make out with Julius.

Adonnis, surprisingly, tried the sexy approach too, but his was more directed at the audience than at Julius (thank god.). The women in the crowd seemed to like it, the men didn't.

Tara tried hostel, and was a very convincing actress. Bane went for the bloodthirsty killer approach, and he seemed to be a crowd favorite by the end. I started to prepare myself as the District 3 girl went on stage, followed by her partner. I zoned out most of their interviews. Finally, they called my name, and I walked out onstage to a large round of applause and yelling.

"So, Ariella, being from District 4, what do you do in your free time?" Julius asked me. This was good, I was hoping that he would start with the info about my home life first.

"I like to go swimming with my friends a lot of the time," I told him coyly. "I also like to read and cook with my dad."

"What does your dad do for a living?" he asked me.

"He is a fisherman, most people are in District 4." I answered. The crowd seemed to be caught off guard by my innocence. They had quieted down, and I saw on the large screen as they panned around to faces through the crowd the looks of shock and disbelief.

"So can you tell us anything about your very impressive score in training Ariella?" Julius prompted, obviously hoping for something he could work with. The truth was, I was hoping for something I could work with.

"Well, I can't tell you really. It would give too much away." I told him, crossing my fingers he would answer in some way that I could manipulate to make the personality switch.

"Oh, come on, give us a little hint!" he prompted. It wasn't the perfect question, but It would have to do – I was running out of time.

"Well if you really want to know," I said, my shaking fingers fingering the zipper at the top of my jacket. "I can tell you that I'm dangerous…" At this point, I slowly pulled down the zipper on my jacket. "And my competitors had better…" the zipper reached the bottom of the jacket, and I let it fall to the ground. "Be on their guard." I finished.

The audience gasped. I dared not look down at myself; instead, I looked up at the large screen, and I saw that I was dressed in a provocative mini-skirt and ice blue tank top that did wonders for my curvy figure. I was sexy all the way.

The guttural hollers coming from the crowd told me that the male members of the audience were pleased with my change of dress. I had done the hard part, and I figured I had about a minute left.

"Wow," Julius said, trying to rope the audience back in. "That was interesting. Any particular reason for that _delicious _change of costume?"

"I just wanted to show everyone, you _and _my competitors, that there are two sides of me. It's up to you which one you want to believe." I almost purred as I said this. The crowd were screaming, the volume reaching above and beyond what it had reached for anyone else.

Julius tried to contain them again, but before he could do so, my buzzer went off. Walking with my back to the crowd, I swung my hips from side to side, giving them a view. And just before I went through the door, I turned and gave them one final wink over my shoulder.

I watched the rest of the interviews with the rest of the tributes. Undin worked sullen and hostile to great affects. The boy from 5 was aloof, but kept hinting at some underlying talent that everyone was overlooking. The girl from 6 was trying for the dangerous angle, but it was awfully hard to take her seriously when she was only 15.

The pair from 8 both kept hinting at something, but were very very secretive about their high scored. Tzarro was funny and likable. He told jokes to great affect, the crowd loved him. Tellee, on the other hand, broke down into tears half way through the interview, and was unable to get another word out. It was minorly pathetic.

As the boy from 12 finished it up, we walked back to the training center. I heard Julius give the crowd one final warning to tune in tomorrow promptly at 10 o'clock for the start of the games, and with that, the doors closed behind us and all noise ceased.

**Hey guys!! Sorry this chapter took so long! Honestly, it gets easier from here. I'm much better at writing the actual games. They will start next chapter, I promise! I really really really hope you liked this chapter, please please please review!!! Next chapter should be up within a week. I'm gonna eat breakfast then start on it lol. Thanks Guys.**

**Keep reading,**

**Emmdog1994**


	8. Brutality

Chapter 8

We got back to the loft, and everyone was really tired. I was about to climb into bed when a thought struck me – 'Would Tzarro be on the roof tonight?'

Curiosity got the best of me. I snuck into the elevator and made the familiar trek up to the roof. When I opened the door, sure enough, there were voices coming from the garden.

"Hey," I said cautiously to them.

"Hi," they replied simultaneously. An awkward silence followed.

"I just wanted to let you guys know that I really enjoyed the time spent with you here," was all I could say. Tzarro stared at me, but Tellee spoke.

"You can spend more time with us…" she said cautiously.

"You know why I can't do that. I have a spot with my pack, but it's almost a for sure death sentence to go up against all five of them."

Once again, Tellee spoke. "What if there weren't six of them? What if you joined us when there were only say… two of them left?"

This idea kind of appealed to me. But what if when there were three of them left, Tzarro and Tellee were dead. Finally, I made a decision. "Fine, when there are two of them left, you guys come and find me and I'll join you."

They both seemed happy that I had made this promise, and after, conversation came more easily. We avoided talking about the games, and we avoided talking about home, so the natural flow of the conversation was to make fun of The Capitol people. It was fun.

The thought that was bugging me was that I had not truly made a decision. I had just postponed judgment day. When they came to find me, I would have to decide: leave my pack, or kill Tzarro and Tellee.

After about an hour, I went back to our floor. I tried for about two hours to sleep before I got up and asked an avox to bring me sleep medicine. She did, and I was out like a light in about two minutes.

That morning was chaotic. I was shaken awake much much earlier than I would have chosen. I was escorted to the breakfast table, still in my pajamas, and given an enormous plate of food. Despite my claims of not being hungry, I was forced to eat most of it.

When I was finished eating, I was taken into the bathroom where Heebee did my hair, nails, and make up. I didn't see the point of it, but then he told me that the blush he used was sun proof and would stop burning for a day. The nail polish, he told me, was actually a hardening agent that would stop them from cracking. He straightened my already straight hair, then pronounced me good enough.

I was escorted to the rough where I was picked up, along with Heebee, in a hovercraft. While I was frozen on the ladder, they inserted a painful tracker into my arm.

The tube from the ladder deposited us directly into a my launch room. It was a bleak room owing to the lack of sunlight. I was actually anxious to get out of here through the tube in the back corner of the room.

Heebee offered me food, but I turned it down, still full from breakfast. He also told me that it would be a good idea to drink some water before I went in because last year's battle at the cornucopia lasted nearly an hour. This thought rising in my head, I accepted the water.

After about twenty minutes, a package arrived. Inside was my tribute uniform. It consisted of a thick white coat to be worn over another white jacket, this one very thin, and a green t-shirt. There were a pair of shorts and a pair of long, pants. The boots were light brown leather with spikes on the bottom.

It was very peculiar combination. The thick coat and pants suggested a cold climate, while the shorts and t-shirt suggested a warmer one. Heebee showed me how the spikes on the bottom of the boot were removable, revealing a rubber soul to the shoe.

Finally, Heebee received the call on a thin blue cell phone. He looked at me with a grim expression, then motioned towards the tube. I, along with my collection of clothes, made my way up the tube. "Good luck," he said, just before the tube closed around me.

There was darkness for a while, then I surfaced into the arena. The first thought that struck me was how bright it was. I looked down and saw that my metal plate was surrounded by snow.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said a booming voice. "Let the second Hunger Games begin!"

I looked up and saw the bright golden cornucopia surrounded by a giant clearing. The clearing was ringed by trees. The trees seemed consistent through and through, but the variable seemed to be the climate.

The arena was divided into four quarters, and I could only assume they represented summer, fall, winter, and spring. To my right, the trees were covered with dry leaves in beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow. Behind me in the winter section, the trees were bare and covered with a few inches of snow. To my left, the trees were budding, and the sky was drizzling. The area on the opposite side of the arena was mostly obscured by the cornucopia, but from what I could see, it looked to be hot and humid.

I looked at the tributes around me. There were six in each section of the arena, and I seemed to be the third from the right in the winter section. I could see Lyliss four spaces to my right, the first in the fall section. Next to her was Tellee. To my left, I saw Bane in the middle of the spring section and the high-scoring girl from six next to him. It didn't look like I would have an enormous amount of competition.

I was about to see where the rest of my pack were when the gong rang out. Without thinking about it, I ran straight for the cornucopia. Not stopping until I was about ten feet from the mouth of the horn, I looked around for anything I could use.

My eyes first fell upon a bundle of spears. I picked them up, then cast around for a target. The first person I saw was the girl from 12. She was timidly picking around the edges, hoping to find a clear path in. I threw the first of my spears at her.

She dodged the spear, and seeing that I was in pursuit of her, turned and ran towards the fall section. I threw another spear, and this one caught her in the back of her calf. The tumbled over, and landed with her face in the dirt.

I ran over to her, about to finish her off, when she picked up a rock about the size of my fist and threw it at me. It caught me in the cheek.

Furious, I stabbed downwards with my spear, straight into her stomach. Not quite fatal, the girl looked down at the gaping wound in her gut. Then, with a long, agonized, groan, she tore her eyes away from the groan and looked up at me. She whispered something, too quiet to hear, but it sounded something like "murderer."

Infuriated, I swung my leg up to her head and landed a crushing blow with my foot. She laid flat, cradled around the spear in her stomach, but I could see she was still breathing. Mercifully, I pulled the spear out so she could bleed to death in peace.

I ran back into the cornucopia. I saw Undin and Bane working together on the boys from 11 and 12 who seemed to have teamed up. Lyliss was trying to get close enough to the girl from 3 to make contact with her mace. Tara was trying to fight the boy from six who had gotten his hands on a sword, while Tara had only a couple throwing knives. I could see that she was edging towards a mace a couple of feet away, but I decided to help out.

No sooner had I armed myself with a sword and run over to Tara than the girl from 6, the boys district partner, joined the fray. I remembered her sandy hair and unnervingly blue eyes, and I also remembered that she had scored a 7. I also noticed that, having gotten to the cornucopia, she was armed with a collection of knives.

She lunged at me, a knife in each hand. I had to resort to my flexibility to keep from getting hit. I threw my torso backwards into a back walkover to avoid two high jabs. By a piece of luck, my foot came up and knocked the knife out of her left hand. On the other hand, I lost my sword in the process.

I came up, weaponless, but now she had only one knife which was much easier to defend against. This time when she lunged, instead of dodging, I sidestepped and grabbed her wrist and yanking it viciously. I heard the bones crack and her shriek of pain. Unfortunately, she didn't give up at that point; instead, she grabbed another knife from where it was secured at her belt loop. It was clear she wasn't as confident with the knife in her left hand, so she used it as defense, warding me off. When there were a few solid feet in between us, she turned and ran.

I might have felt confident about breaking her wrist if she weren't from District 6, the district that produced medical supplies. Not dwelling on this fact, I turned to help Tara.

Only I saw, to my horror, that Tara was probably beyond help.

The boy from 6 had her pinned on the ground. She had gashes all along her torso, and the blood was pooling up.

I ran at the boy, armed only with my fists, but I could not reach Tara in time. Before I could do anything, he slid his blade across her throat, like a knife through butter.

I flew into him, colliding with a dull thud. He didn't have time to change his grip on his sword, and it flew out of his hands. When we stopped rolling, I sat up on top of his chest, wanting only to inflict as much pain as possible in a short amount of time. I didn't trust any sense of security I had – there were still enemies running about the cornucopia.

I punched the boy once in the nose, then turned and punched him in the groin, then in the eye. I threw everything I had into those punches, each time shrieking for Tara. She was the nicest of the pack, and if I didn't win, I had wanted her to win – her or Tzarro. And this kid, this small kid, had destroyed any chance she had.

This boy was whimpering now. Whimpering because I had him. Whimpering because I was about to kill him. Whimpering because he would cease to exist in a matter of seconds.

Lacking a weapon and opposed to killing by strangulation, I cast about for a way to kill him. Finally, it came to me. I grabbed the plate of metal spikes that Heebee had shown me from the bottom of my boot.

Punching him one more time in the windpipe for good measure, I slammed the spikes down into the side of his face. I pulled them out immediately and slammed them down again, this time on his eye. Then on his neck. Then his temple.

Again and again I hit him until his face looked like a mass of ground salmon. I placed the spikes back on my boot and stood up, the dead leaves crackling beneath me.

The fighting had ceased. I had drawn an audience. Lyliss, Adonnis, Bane, and Undin were all watching, amazed and horrified, as I walked towards them.

**Hey guys! I told you its easier to write once the games have started. Hope you liked it. Please review.**

**Keep reading,**

**Emmdog1994**


	9. Competition

Chapter 9

The four stayed where they were, watching me, until I had calmed down enough to reestablish my breathing pattern. Finally, when I called out to them that I was fine, they joined me. We made a circle and discussed the events.

"Well we all know Tara is dead," said Lyliss. "After she was fighting that District 10 girl, she got her mace thrown out of her hand, and that boy from 6 attacked her before she could get another weapon. Damn, that 10 girl could fight. Does anyone remember what her score got?"

"Four," I told them, trying very hard to let on that I knew very little about Tellee. "What weapon was she using?" I asked, trying not to sound curious.

"Sword," said Lyliss. She seemed to be the only who was had seen the altercation.

"Anyone else worth noting?" asked Bane. He opened the question to all.

"I fought the girl from 6," I said. "She was pretty good with knives, but I think I broke her right wrist and she didn't seem as confident with her left."

"The boy from 8 attacked me and we fought for a couple minutes, then his partner told him it was time to clear out," noted Adonnis. Other than that, most people we fought were killed…

We started gathering the remaining supplies from around the cornucopia. Each of us was armed to the teeth as the supplies were spread far and wide. If you were in trouble, it could be a while before help could reach you.

We piled the supplies at the mouth of the cornucopia. There was plenty of everything. Enough weapons to last the entire games, enough food to last about two weeks, enough medical supplies to last through numerous battles. We were set as long as we didn't lose this.

Just after we had gotten all the supplies back, the cannons went off, telling us how many had died at the initial blood bath. We counted nine in total. _Only nine. _That left fifteen, fourteen I would have to kill.

It was late afternoon when we got around to eating. We started a fire with some tinder, but it wasn't enough to get the flame hot enough. We would have to go looking for more.

We decided on the fall section for two reasons: it was one of the two sections whose wood would be dry, and probably wasn't the hiding place of many tributes. We figured that most tributes would go the "summer" route.

Even though we doubted that there was anyone within two miles of us, Lyliss and I merely walked in ten yards to gather wood. We didn't know if there could be traps waiting for us, and we didn't want to risk it.

Even in that small space of land we covered, I noticed some things about that section of the forest. It was beautiful, for one. The temperature was just right, not too hot, not too cold; however, I also noticed that the beautiful leaves that fell to the ground were horribly noisy. I'm sure I could hear someone in these leaves at least fifty yards away.

When we got back, these revelations sparked our conversation. We sat discussing the pros and cons of each of the sections of the forest.

Spring: It was bad that it was raining, but surely the temperature was bearable if you could stay dry. There were a couple of tarps that we had gathered from that area, and it was entirely possible that someone else had too. Also, there were sure to be edible plants and fresh game.

Summer: Summer seemed the obvious choice to go hunt people down in. Sure, it was hot, but that was about the only thing wrong with it. There were sure to be animals a plenty. We would be starting our hunting there that night.

Fall: This section, too, was sure to have plants and animals to eat, and it would be easy to hide in there. But the leaves made it hard not to draw attention to yourself, and that was a clear disadvantage.

Winter: The disadvantages were clear enough. If the frigid temperature weren't enough, there were sure to be very few animals to eat or plants to use. Someone who could survive in there either had to be really smart or have really good sponsors.

We would start our hunting in the summer section. We knew we would find most of the dumber tributes there, and we didn't want to have to weed out the others until we had a clear field. We decided to wait for dark though.

We sat around the fire for some time while the last rays of sunshine disappeared over the horizon, soaking up the fact that we were still alive. Finally, as the arena was finally encased in night, a screen high in the sky appeared, showing the seal of the capitol for all tributes to see. The anthem was blaring out of unseen speakers, almost loud enough to hurt your ears.

The first face we saw was Tara. She was followed by both from 3, then the girl from 5. Next came the boy from 6, then the girl from 7, then the boy from 11, and both from 12. I had kind of hoped that Tzarro would die the first day so that I wouldn't have to decide if I was going to help them of not, but I was still relieved to see that he was alive.

With that out of the way, we started gathering the supplies we would need to go hunting. We all dropped our big white coats as we had made camp on the border of spring and summer, but we kept the light black jackets on. They were easy to carry and would conceal us better in the summer night.

We drew pieces of grass to see who would stay and keep watch. Undin pulled the long straw, so he grudgingly sat back on his sleeping bag. His job would be made easier by something Lyliss found. She had emptied a backpack to use for carrying knives, and inside, she found a pair of darkness glasses that he could use to patrol. We didn't have time to search the rest of the packs, but if there was one pair, there could be more.

We, Lyliss, Adonnis, Bane, and I set off into the summer section. Each of us had a flashlight, a backpack with a few items of our choice, and food in case we got separated. We each also carried a weapon. Bane and Adonnis each had swords. Lyliss had a mace, and I had a bow and quiver of arrows as well as a few throwing knives tucked into my belt.

We didn't really encounter anything for a while. I was exhausted, and it probably wasn't a good idea to be out here after a long day of fighting. I still had a few cuts and bruises where I had been scraped. Nothing major, but it was still getting annoying.

We didn't speak at all, and we did our best to make as little noise as possible. The lack of sound was eerie, but we were confident that we would hear anything happening.

We had been walking for about two hours when we heard the first sound. It was a scream, a girl's. She seemed to be quiet after that one shriek, but we followed the noise. We heard another scream, the same girl but it was much closer.

We ran straight towards the noise, but something cut us short. It was the sound of a cannon, probably the girl's. We kept running though, and we came across a clearing.

The girl was dangling from a tree, one leg caught in a snare. Her head lay on the ground under her, covered by the blood cascading down from her body. Lyliss retched.

Just then, we saw a movement. It was a figure, running from the scene. He was a good thirty yards away when our flashlights glinted off his long, thin sword.

I tried to pretend that that wasn't who I thought it was. I tried to pretend that I didn't know that wavy brown hair. I tried to pretend that I didn't know that muscular back.

The only problem was that I did know who it was.

It was Tzarro.

The pack ran after him without a moment's hesitation. He was fast, faster than all of us. We had the advantage only in numbers and light. He had the advantage of speed, and most likely, he was familiar with this area.

All of a sudden, he disappeared from view. We had no idea where he went, so we turned around and followed the path in the foliage we had made back to the clearing.

The body of the girl had been picked up by a hovercraft, but the scene was still there, as were her supplies.

She had hung from a rope by her left ankle. The snare was perfect in every way, and we found the rock that had been used to pull her from the ground.

In her small green pack, she had a length of rope, a bottle of water, a bottle of antiseptic, and a pair of scissors that she had disassembled to form two long imposing blades.

We took her pack with all the supplies as well as the rope from the snare. Hopefully, this was all the rope Tzarro had, and he wouldn't be setting any more snares any time soon.

On the way back, we discussed "the boy". I didn't tell them that I knew it was Tzarro, and they didn't figure it out on their own.

The fact that Tzarro was a killer was news to me. I assumed he had gotten his high score in training doing something innovative and creative, not showing skill as a murderer. But at this point, I didn't think it was a good idea to be surprised by anything that happened.

These were the Hunger Games, after all…


	10. Preparations

**Hey, I made some changes to this chapter. Nothing major so you don't need to re read it. Just wanted to let you all know that the girl that Tzarro killed was from District 3. I forgot to mention that. Haha that's all. Please Review!**

Chapter 10

We walked back to camp in near silence. _NEAR _silence. Everyone except for Adonnis was too dejected to talk. But Adonnis was so infuriated by our failure to catch the boy that he wouldn't shut up, surely scaring away any tributes we would have encountered.

Nobody felt like telling him off, so we dealt with it all the way back to camp. Finally, just as the first rays of sun were peaking over the horizon, we made it back to camp. We met the very welcome sight of Undin working over the fire with a pan containing much needed and wanted food.

The food tasted like heaven. Even though it was just two packs of dried fruit boiled with water and some sugar and poured over pieces of bread, it tasted like a feast. We soon devoured the fruit and two whole loaves of bread.

We unanimously agreed that one huge nap was in order, but we didn't agree on who should be keeping watch. Finally, we decided on the picking pieces of grass strategy. I was extremely relieved to find a short piece in my hand, and actually enjoyed seeing the look on Adonnis's face when he drew the long straw – he had annoyed me on the way back, and karma is not a very nice lady…

Sleep came so easily, it felt like I was wandering into a deep cave where nobody would find me. A deep, black, cave. Celibacy was blissful, as was the lack of something to do. And because it was blissful, it had to end sooner or later.

I was shaken awake at what I imagined was mid-day as the sun was directly overhead. Adonnis had decided that I should take the next watch, increasing my dislike of him. I knew that he probably just picked one of the three people who hadn't taken watch yet, and it was also likely that he didn't want to pick Lyliss because she was his biggest ally and because most people would bet on Bane in a fight if either of them had the mind to kill the other.

I took up the mantle of guard, sitting on the collapsible camping chair we had found in our supplies. We had decided to go through them as a group tonight, but I decided to take a peek before we got to them as a group.

The stuff on the surface was all generic: weapons, survival kits, medical supplies. The stuff on the bottom was what was gathered near the cornucopia, thus it was more likely to be valuable.

I started excavating a small hole on the right side. Every time I encountered a backpack, I opened it and peeked at its contents. I rarely found anything that could not already be found elsewhere in the pile; however, I did find a few things that seemed to be unique.

In one pack, I found a garrote – a small wire with two pieces of wood at either end. I could tell by the dark sheen on the wire of the garrote that it was made of some high quality metal from the capitol. That could possibly mean that it was good for more than strangling someone to death. I stuffed it in my pocket, and moved on.

The next item I found was a bottle of purple poison – or at least I assumed it was poison. The skull and cross bones symbol on the bottle accompanied by the words "do not drink" seemed to make that clear enough. The vial was tiny, about the length and width of a golf tee. Clearly, this was only enough poison to take down one person.

The final item I found was a small book entitled _Edible Plants. _It was especially useful because along with pictures of what the plant looked like, it also told the reader during which _season_ the plant could be found. And as there were four seasons here, surely I could find edible plants in all of them.

These things could be very valuable if I kept them to myself. I didn't want the rest of the group to know that I had them, so I selected a small brown backpack, put it's contents elsewhere, and put my garrote, poison, and book inside.

When I was sure that they were all sleeping, I took the pack and concealed it in a bush a couple of feet into the summer section. I picked that particular bush for two reasons: The first was that the brown leaves matched the color of the pack very closely, and it would be hard to spot from a distance. The second was that the bush was small enough that a tribute wasn't likely to use it for a hiding spot.

I was only leery that someone might have seen me hiding the pack there. That being said, I decided to check on it in a couple of hours to make sure that it was still there.

When I returned to camp I saw that Lyliss had gotten up and she seemed to be suspicious of why I had left my post. "Why did you leave?" she asked.

"I had to go to the bathroom," I told her vaguely, avoiding eye contact. I had been told before that I was a bad liar, and this might well be the most dangerous lie I had ever told – If she knew I was hiding choice supplies so that I could use them later in the game, she'd probably try to kill me.

"Why didn't you just pee here?" she asked. Still, she seemed determined to catch my eye. Still, I refused to look at her, busying myself putting more tinder into the fire.

"I didn't pee, and I didn't want the camp to be stinking." I said. She stopped asking questions, but I could see that she was still unsure.

I wasn't sure I liked Lyliss. I'm sure we would have been friends outside of the games, but we _were _in the games. She and I were just too much alike: strikingly beautiful, smart, and lethal. Surely, there was a certain type of Capitol person that wanted to sponsor a beautiful, smart, and lethal tribute, but half of them were likely sponsoring Lyliss instead. If she were out of the picture, that would send more sponsors towards me.

She must have been thinking the same thing. I thought that she might be a big threat because she had a solid reason to kill me. The boys were keeping me around because I got the highest score, but that wouldn't last long. Maybe it would just be better if I left now.

We set about making dinner for us and the boys. We found a package of dehydrated hamburger patties. We poured water over them and let them sit under a large shield to block out air, and after five minutes, we had five moist, uncooked hamburger patties.

Lyliss set about frying them over the fire in the same shield made into a makeshift frying pan. I was sent to look for water in the pile. I found a large jug, and brought it back over to Lyliss. I was then given the daunting task of getting the boys up.

This had to be done carefully because all three of them slept with weapons in their hands. If I got too close, their reflexes could turn out to be deadly; therefore, I decided that I had to wake them from a distance. I found a large rock, and I chucked it as hard as I could at the Cornucopia.

The resulting sound was tremendous. In less than two seconds, all three boys were up on their feet, weapons poised to strike the nonexistent attacker. "Supper time," I said casually, rolling my eyes at the baffled expressions all three of them wore.

We piled around the cooking food, the fumed entrancing us. We hadn't had real food since the start of the games yesterday. We were all so hungry, we ended up eating the patties right out of the pan. The resulting burns were minimal, but still, somebody's mentor sent a small tub of medicine that, when smeared on the burns, created instant relief.

After dinner, we drew straws to see who was going to keep watch. I was extremely disappointed to see the long straw in my hand. I would be keeping watch for the second shift in one day. The good thing was that it would allow me to sleep _all _day tomorrow.

Before they left to go weed out tributes, we went through the supplies. We found some things we hadn't before, like a compass that always pointed towards the cornucopia and five packages of vegetable seeds that could grow their plants in one day.

The hunting party set off with weapons and packs of supplies that will keep them alive for one day max in the wild. I think it is stupid of them to carry it with them at all for all the good it will do them, but I don't say anything. Naïve opponents were more welcome than cunning ones, even if they were my allies.

Once again, they plunged into the depths of the summer section. It was a clear choice – we were still sure that there were tributes inside. We had seen Tzarro yesterday, and had heard no cannon that could signal his demise.

The group had been gone for about ten minutes when the anthem started and the screen high above the arena displayed the deaths that day. Nobody had been killed except for the District 3 girl Tzarro had killed last night.

I remembered last year how the announcers had spoken of the need of devices to drive tributes together. The lack of carnage at some points in Blythe's games had been considered boring by the capitol, and they couldn't have people lose interest. I hoped they wouldn't be employing those devices this year.

When the anthem was over, I donned the pair of night-vision glasses and took up watch. It was dull work, but at least I was here with food, water, and anything else I needed.

The thought of supplies brought me up short. I still needed to check that the hiding spot for my pack was safe. Timidly, I walked into the forest and relocated the bush. The pack was there, undisturbed. This put my stomach at ease, and I returned to my place guarding the supplies.

Most of the night passes without event. I hear no cannons. The only sound is the constant sound of rain coming from the spring section. Finally, I see the first lights peeking over the tops of the trees. But at the same time, I hear a new noise.

It comes from the fall section. It sounds like two pairs of footfalls. One is sluggish, like someone dragging their feet. The second it quieter, almost quiet enough that I can't hear it. I probably wouldn't have been able to hear it if they weren't in the fall section.

In the faint dawn light, the glasses were rendered useless, even detrimental. I threw them aside and faced the two boys who stepped out from the red and yellow trees. I vaguely remember them from training. I was sure that the smaller boy with dark brown hair was from District 7. He looked about 15. He had a gash across his face and looked stick thin.

The second boy, too, looked thin. He seemed to be the stronger of the too though. He had short blonde hair, so short it looked only like a thin yellow cap on his head. He didn't seem as worn as the other boy, and, though it was hard to tell with both of them as skinny as they were, but he looked to be a lot more muscular. I would wager he was about 17.

I took in their weapons next. The small boy held a mace which looked too heavy for him. He also had two knives stuck in his belt. The older held a double sided axe, and he also had a hammer buckled to his side.

They probably hadn't found anything to eat in their section, and were possibly trying to switch to a different section, or maybe had intended to confront me to vie for our plethora of supplies and food. Either way, they were now my enemies, and I now had to kill them.

I waited for them to make the first move. I had to see what I was up against. Currently unarmed except for a pair of throwing knives, I had no choice but to wait. If they turned and ran, I would pursue them with a bow and quiver of arrows. If they advanced, I would throw some spears, then pick up a sword or something. I would prefer that they ran.

But unfortunately, they took a few steps towards me.

**Haha cliff hanger! Oh well, next chapter is already finished. I decided it was too long for a single chapter after the whole fight, so the entirety of this fight composes the next chapter. Please Review!!! I hope you like the fight scene even though the chapter is so short. **

**Keep Reading**

**Emmdog1994**


	11. Combat

Hey Guys! I did some retouching to this chapter because someone gave me some tips about how to make it better. It still ends the same, but she winds up getting hurt a little bit more. I didn't notice, but I made her into superwoman for a while there. Haha. They just couldn't hit her. Anyway, she has picked up some injuries now.

Just a warning if you haven't read this chapter yet, it gets a little graphic at the end.

Keep reading!

Emmdog1994

Chapter 11

I grabbed four spears in my hands and stood poised to throw. When they were about thirty yards away, I threw them, one after the other. They boys dodged them for the most part. The younger boy tried to swing and hit the spear out of the air with his mace, but all he did was redirect it at the other boy. The tail end of the spear hit him in the face, and he let out a satisfying grunt of pain.

And yet, the boys kept coming. I armed myself with the lightest thinnest sword I could find, needing speed and mobility for my fighting style.

Soon, the boys were upon me. The bigger one swung first with his axe. I ducked the blow, and lunged forward, hoping to stick him in the gut. Unfortunately, before I could complete the fatal maneuver, the second boy swung his mace straight down at the ground.

This was good and bad. The boy obviously had had very little training in the art of mace swinging. The mace is a weapon of momentum. You should never stop the momentum because it takes more strength to start it up again; therefore, it was good because he would be defenseless for a matter of seconds. It was bad because the spiked ball was headed straight for my face.

I rolled to the left, closer to the boy with the mace. He turned to face me, yanking on the mace, trying to propel it into my body. But he was fighting physics and gravity, and that didn't usually work out very well.

When I jumped from my feline crouch, he pulled a knife out, dropping his weapon. I too abandoned my weapon, and pounced on him. I felt the knife dig into the palm of my hand and slice half way down my forearm. Despite the wound, I reached up and grabbed the handle of the knife. Meanwhile, my other hand reached up and scratched the boy's face as we rolled to the ground.

I yanked the knife from his grip, hoping to stab him. Sensing danger, I once again rolled to the side, this time away from where I knew the boy from District 9 was. Just in time too, because I saw the blade of his axe soar inches from his companion's neck, the exact spot where my neck had just been.

Using the knife I had just taken from the smaller boy, I jumped at him. He parried my initial thrust with the handle of his axe, but it was just too big of a weapon for such close combat. He threw it to the side and grabbed the hammer held in his belt.

He lunged, swinging the hammer from right to left. I leaned backwards, my head almost touching the ground. I was trusting that the momentum created by the heavy hammer would carry. I used my hands and pushed myself back up.

In the few moments I had spent looking backwards, I saw that the smaller boy had righted himself and was advancing towards me with the other knife. I surveyed the boy with the hammer too and saw that he was winding up for another swing. His blow would land before the first boy came into the picture, but still, I knew my timing had to be perfect.

His aim was true this time. I could not swing my sword up to protect my face, so I used what I had: my hand. The blow hit home, and I'm sure it broke two fingers. I didn't let the face show on my face, however. I would not give him that satisfaction. He wound up one more time, and I could hear the smaller boy behind me.

I dodged the hammer as it fell, this time from above. I turned, and at the same time, I kicked the older boy in what I hoped was the face. The smaller brown haired boy lunged at me with the knife, and that too I sidestepped. In a clever move, I grabbed his wrist and redirected the knife so that it was facing straight up.

I grabbed it with my remaining hand which now clutched two knives. One, I threw at the boy that was staggering around clutching his nose. It missed. The other, I plunged into the arm of the boy in front of me.

He fell to the ground clutching the wound. It was gushing blood, but it wouldn't be fatal… immediately. I would need to help him on his way.

I was about to simply cut his throat to save time when I saw that the older boy was fleeing. He ran back into the fall section, his hands over the bloody mess that was his face.

My attention was turned back to the small, pathetic boy on the ground in front of me. He needed to be disposed of, that was obvious. What was unclear was how to do it.

Now that I had time, I could be sadistic about it. I was sure that that is what the viewers in the capitol would want. It could gain me favor with sponsors; it could evoke fear in the hearts of others if they were to see it. But on the other hand, why cause his pain when it wasn't necessary.

I was deep in thought when I heard shouting. The rest of my pack had returned, and they saw me pinning this small boy on the ground. Now I truly had no choice.

They all walked up and made an irregular ring around me. It was now or never.

I started by flipping the boy over on his back so that he was facing me. I cut away his shirt, revealing his bare chest. I opened up a series of cuts on each of his ribs. He screamed bloody murder… which is exactly what this was.

I was going to murder him.

And it was going to be bloody.

I don't know what kept me from just killing him. His screams were horrible to behold, but somehow, I endured, cutting and cutting like a beautiful butcher. I kept on cutting, slicing through fabric to reveal new skin.

Eventually, he passed out. Without the screams to fuel the fire, I ended it quickly. I plunged the knife into his throat. His cannon fired.

We cleared out to let them collect the body. The bare naked body that now resembled something that should be hanging from a string in a shop window.

I was horrified. How had I done that to another person? How could I, someone so beautiful, do something so hideous?

And yet, the smile never left my lips, and the laughter that escaped my lips was entirely convincing… Or it was to everyone but me.


	12. Gone with the Wind

Chapter 12

We returned back to our supplies as soon as they had collected the body. Bane offered to help me tend to my wounds, and I allowed him. We found some first aid kits, and he was about to start wrapping my hand and wrist where the knife had dug deep into my flesh when a silver parachute landed in my lap.

Inside the gift from Blythe, I found a bottle of antiseptic. It was smart of her. She was telling me to clean the wound before I let Bane bandage it. It wouldn't be a good idea to just let it stand, what with the dirty conditions we were living in and the high potential for infection. I cleaned the wound with the antiseptic which hurt like crazy, but I didn't allow my face to reveal the pain I was in.

Bane was wrapping my arm when I saw it: he was trying to catch my eye. I didn't know why, but it looked serious. He was trying to tell me something, but he wasn't doing so well without words. To me, it just looked like he had some sort of brain hemorrhage. I did my best to keep from laughing.

Finally, not accomplishing anything by his stupid looks, he asked if I wanted to go looking for something fresh to eat with him. I knew something was up, so I followed him, hoping we didn't get too many looks from the other three.

When we crossed the threshold of the summer section, I spoke. "Okay, what is going on, Bane?" He didn't answer immediately, but instead, checked that none of the others were following us. Finally, I became so anxious that I hissed, "Spit it out dude!"

He turned to me with a grave look. "That stunt you pulled back there," he began, "the rest of the group is scared of you. They're thinking about getting rid of you, I can tell."

I was shocked, speechless. I had no way to respond besides looking incredulous. "I am telling you this," he went on. "Because I trust you. I don't trust them, especially Lyliss and Adonnis. I want to run away with you."

Still incredulous, but now capable of putting words together, I said, "Why do you want to run away with me? Why do you trust me any more than them? I'm the one that has mercilessly killed two kids."

"Because of what you did for Tara," he said. "Sure, you're brutal and not afraid to kill, but I can see by the way you killed the boy that killed her, that even here, in the arena, friendship still means something to you."

And he was right. I trusted Bane, more even than Undin, my district partner. And I wanted to run away with him. I could tell that this was a good move, made all the easier of a choice when I received a parachute, another gift from Blythe. It's contents weren't expected, but I appreciated them none the less. Inside were two cupcakes, an obvious sign of her approval of this plan.

Our plans for running away weren't precise, but we knew that we would run as soon as one of us had to keep watch overnight again. We returned back to camp, our arms laden with berries. Not sure if they were poisonous or not, we did a basic skin test, rubbing some of the juice on our arms and after an hour, the skin wasn't irritated, so we ate them.

The day passed without incident. We slept, Lyliss keeping watch, followed by Undin. Before I knew it, the sun was sinking lower into the sky. It was time to divvy up responsibilities. They were about to get some more grass to decide when I volunteered, claiming that I wouldn't be much help in a fight for a couple days because of the cuts and broken fingers on my left hand. They agreed.

Before they left, Bane and I made our plans: When they left, I was to pack four packs of supplies. One pack would have small weapons like knives, hatchets, and maces. The second pack would contain first aid supplies and two sleeping bags. The third and fourth would be full of food and water.

The anthem began to play, and we all saw the face of the District 7 boy I had killed that morning. That left 13 tributes left, a very large number. We were already almost to the fourth day and we had 13 left to play the game. I still didn't have great odds, but they were about to get a lot better teaming up with Bane.

The group set off into the fall section which we had decided should be our next area of search. I didn't think this was a good idea because it would make it harder for Bane to sneak away from the group, but I was confident he could do it.

They had been gone for ten minutes when I started packing. The preparations took about half an hour to do because of my injured arm. I had to pull open the packs and stuff the things inside with only one hand, and it was difficult.

When they were all set, I retrieved my small brown pack from the summer section that I had hidden. I stuffed the garrote, the poison, and the book of edible plants into the packs with everything else. I figured if Bane and I were going to trust each other fully, there was no point in keeping that stuff hidden from him.

I waited for a couple hours, night-glasses on my face. I drank as much water as I could hold, and stocked my pockets with extra supplies and weapons, hoping we could go through them later and sort out what we wanted.

Finally, I saw Bane coming back through the tree line. He was running, and this made me curious. I hefted two of the bags up onto my shoulders, and waited for him to make it to where I was.

Out of breath, he began to speak, but I made him sip some water first. When he had caught his breath, he began. "I got away, but they're on my tail I'm sure. I said I was going to go to the bathroom, but they would have gone looking for me after a couple minutes. We need to get out of here," he finished. I didn't need telling twice, so he grabbed the other two packs on the ground as well as another sword to accompany the one he was already carrying.

We booked it to the spring section at full speed. Bane had to stop to rest as soon as we got through the trees, so I moved him about fifty yards in and left the supplies with him, promising to be back soon.

I crept back to the tree line, hoping the foliage and constantly falling rain would conceal me. I watched what used to be our camp for a few minutes before Lyliss, Adonnis, then Undin emerged from the trees. They were obviously winded from running a long distance.

When they reached camp, Lyliss screamed, the rage obvious in her tone. She kicked one of the empty water containers we had left on the ground, and her tantrum continued as she stomped off towards the cornucopia. Armed with a mace, she swung again and again, metal on metal, making a tremendous racket.

Adonnis came over and took the mace from her hands, and she screamed some more, but she had stopped trying to beat up the Cornucopia. Undin had simply sat down and covered his eyes with his hands. Obviously, they knew we had run and we wouldn't be coming back. Whether or not they understood our choice was not so clear.

I walked back to Bane. He was still winded, obviously having run an immense distance, but he was standing and walking around with his hands on his heads. He seemed to be regaining his strength.

"Can I look what you brought?" he asked. I nodded, and he went looking through the packs we had just carried. He wasn't especially pleased at the amount of food and water I had brought, but I soothed him with the prospect of sponsors. He didn't have to worry about sharing any donations with Tara anymore, and I was confident that Blythe would direct all of the money given to District 4 towards me.

When he got to the book on edible plants, he seemed displeased that I had kept it from the group, but was glad that I had felt like I trusted him enough to retrieve my hidden supplies. He also liked the poison and garrote. We continued going through the supplies until he seemed satisfied.

We decided to move deeper into the spring section, trying to follow as straight of a line as possible. Without the cornucopia, it was hard to stay oriented, and it was a really bad idea to get lost in the arena.

After walking for about two miles, we decided to make camp. It was close enough to the center clearing that we could still find it, yet the rest of the pack weren't likely to stumble upon us. We found a few sturdy looking trees and tied a green tarp between them, making a water-proof roof. It kept the rain out.

The rain was the worst part of the spring section. It never stopped, and to make it worse, it was cold. But once the tarp was up, we began to thaw out, and eventually to become warm again. It was hard to imagine living here for days without going crazy.

We ate a can of peaches each, and shared one of our ten bottles of water. Now that we were in the spring section, water didn't seem so unavailable, so we were not timid with our gulps.

I let Bane sleep, even though I had been up since I had been up since noon. He had run a lot, and it was sure to have taken a lot out of him. He snored quietly, and I did my best to peer out into the rain and look for enemies.

Not much happened that night. The sky was starting to get bright, so I decided to wake Bane so that he could watch for a while. I grabbed a handful of water from a puddle and splashed him, and he woke with a small startled yelp. I laughed at him, then handed him the knife I had been holding.

He took up my position at the edge of the tarp, and I took up his in the sleeping bag. It was good to get to rest, and I fell effortlessly into sleep.

**Hey guys, not much happened this chapter, but you know what that means… Fun chapter coming up ahead, stay tuned! Please comment if you're keeping up with the story. I know most of you have commented already, but I'm not opposed to multiple comments… lol. **

**OH, and a new idea I've had. I ALWAYS listen to music while I write, and the music that I choose is usually relevant to whats happening in the story, so I've thought about posting a little playlist with each chapter. The music would match the tempo of the story, so it might be fun. Let me know if you think that's a good idea.**

**Keep reading! **

**Emmdog1994 **


	13. Vicious

Chapter 13

I woke a little past midday because I was hungry. I sat up and saw that Bane was looking through the pages of the edible plants book. "Looking for something to eat," he said casually when he saw that I was awake. I nodded and made my way over to him.

I looked over his shoulder and saw that he was looking in the section titled _Spring Plants. _I was glad that this book was in our hands and not in the hands of Lyliss, Undin, and Adonnis.

We found a berry bush near us that matched one in the book. The pages said that the berries were poisonous, but the leaves were edible and tasted very good. It was right; they tasted very sweet and were easy to chew.

The leaves didn't hold us for long, so we returned back to the depths of the book. We found a root vegetable that matched the pages, so we brought it back to camp only to find that it had to be boiled to be eaten.

Once again, we examined the book. This time, we found success in the nuts of a tree about a hundred yards from our camp. They were absolutely delicious, and the tree was huge so we picked them and put them in a couple of packs for about an hour and we didn't even make a dent.

The return journey was a little disorienting, but we managed to make it back to camp in one piece despite the heavy packs. We dug into our feast of nuts as soon as we got there. The only problem we found with them was that they made you extremely thirsty, but we had plenty of water.

We didn't see anything exciting happen all day. The lack of action had begun to scare us, knowing that if somebody didn't die soon, people would be forced together by the gamemakers.

I took first watch, munching casually on the nuts from the tree. They kept my mouth entertained while I scanned the landscape looking for danger.

The eerie night didn't appear to hold any danger, but it was an odd feeling in my gut and the hairs on the back of my neck that alerted me that something was wrong.

The first sound that alerted me to our predicament was like a subtle whispering. I then noticed that it had stopped raining, something that hadn't happened since we had entered the arena.

That's when I heard the squeaking.

Mice. Thousands upon thousands of mice came face to face with me. Unsure of what to do, I gently shook Bane's foot which was next to me. I heard him wake with a small grunt.

"Bane," I said in a very calm voice, never breaking eye contact with the mice.

"Waddizit?" said Bane, clearly still halfway unconscious.

"We have a problem," I said again. "On the count of three, we run. One… Two… Three!" I shouted the final word.

I grabbed one of the backpacks at random, as did Bane.

We ran for about ten minutes, the mice following closely, nipping painfully at our heels and legs. Finally, we hurdled ourselves into a clearing where the mice refused to follow. Instead, they spread out around the perimeter, blocking any chance of exit.

We waited there, wanting to know what to do next. There was a small pond in the middle of the clearing which we wanted to drink but were afraid of drinking untreated water.

Finally, we began to hear noises consistent with someone else running through the forest. There were two sets of footsteps, and we waited anxiously to find out who they were.

The pair of tributes from District 8 broke into the clearing.

The two were old for tributes, both sixteen at the youngest. The girl was tall with sandy hair and green eyes. The boy had long brown hair, about shoulder length. The next thing I noticed were their weapons: both held two hand-held axes. They seemed to be maneuverable, and both seemed to scare me as I had only three knives.

Bane and I quickly glanced at which packs we had brought. He brought a food pack, but I had grabbed the weapons pack. I grabbed the garrote from the pocket on the front, but there were none of Bane's favorite weapon's in the pack.

No sooner had we realized our predicament than a sword came out of the sky, attached to a silver parachute. It fell straight into his hands.

We faced our opponents, divvying each other up. Eventually, both teams appeared to have decided to have girls fight girls and boys fight boys. This was fine by me.

We all stood, just facing each other, waiting for the others to attack. But no one did. The tension just built and built.

The mice still circled us, making escape impossible. This is what drove me. We weren't going anywhere any time soon, so we might as well get this thing started.

I placed the garrote in my back pocket where I could reach it easily, then armed myself with one of my knives. Finally, I checked that the other two were secure in my belt, then I lunged at the girl.

She dodged my first strike, jumping back away from the long blade. Simultaneously, she swung one of the axes down at my hand, but I was too quick. I was already on the ground, rolling forward to close the gap between us – she had the heavier weapon, so the closer I was too her, the better chance I had.

Her next swing was strong, but her arm was tucked into her body, trying to compact the swing due to the closeness between us. It was all too easy to reach out with my empty left hand and grab her wrist, slowing the blade. Her second swing came down to my right, and I had to shove myself backwards off her body to get out of range.

The only problem was that this put me in a new kind of range – her throwing range.

She threw the first axe right at my head, and I had to resort to my traditional back walk over to dodge it. I felt my knee bump the axe as it flew over my frame, but apparently it was only the handle because the skin wasn't broken.

I looked up and found that the girl was charging me with the axe held high above her head, ready to bring it down. I didn't think I'd be able to dodge it, so I did the only thing I could – I pulled out the garrote.

This was a huge risk because I was counting on the garrote being made from a special material. It seemed my gambling paid off, because when I stretched the garrote tight against the blade of the axe, it didn't break and it actually held off the blade.

The girl was frazzled. Surely she thought that she would just hack straight through the thin wire, but instead, I had deflected her attack on the small metal thread between two wooden handles.

I took her moment of disorientation to take advantage of her. I slid the garrote along the length of the blade until it came in contact with the handle. From there, I twisted the cord around the shaft, and pulled the blade out of her hands.

Now unarmed, the girl backed up to reassess the situation. Seeing that I was armed with only the garrote and two knives, she lunged forward, fists balled. Her first blow struck me straight in the jaw. I smacked her hand away, and then waited for her next blow.

The second punch, she aimed at my stomach – perfect. I met her oncoming fist with the garrote and wrapped it around her wrist. I yanked on her wrist and pulled it behind her back. I heard her shoulder pop, accompanied by a high squeal of a scream from the girl.

From there, I grabbed her other arm and tied her hands together behind her back. In a last ditch attempt, she kicked at me. In retaliation, I pulled out a knife and made a long gash along her calf. When she kicked again, I reached down and sliced the tendons on the back of her heels, earning the loudest scream yet.

At this point she was in no position to fight back. I only kept her alive because she could still serve a purpose. I kept her held up in front of me even though she could no longer support herself. We watched as Bane and the boy fought.

Both had lost their weapons and were wrestling on the ground. It was hard to watch, but it looked like Bane was losing. After another minute, the boy had him in a choke hold and was slowly strangling him.

"I think it's time for a negotiation," I yelled at the boy. He seemed to notice the predicament of his partner now, but he didn't loosen his hold on Bane.

"I'm listening," is all he said.

"You let Bane go, and I'll let her live," I said.

It took him a minute to decide. He looked at his District partner who was now unconscious from blood loss. We both knew she was alive because we hadn't heard the cannon.

"No deal, " is all he said. Then he snapped Bane's neck with a resounding _Crack! _His cannon fired.

"Fine," I said, keeping the panic out of my voice. And with that, I retrieved one of the axes from where she had dropped it and I bashed it into her back. Then, when her cannon didn't fire, I pulled it out and smashed it into her skull.

The cannon resounded throughout the arena.

That was when I noticed that the mice had dissipated, as had the District 8 boy, taking his two axes with him. I grabbed the food and weapons packs and headed off back through the forest towards our camp.

I mean… my camp…

**Hey Guys!**

**Sorry this update has taken so long to get up. Had some trouble getting motivated, but here it is!!! I Hope you like it, and please review (as I always ask). Sorry that I killed off Bane! I don't think anyone was rooting for him, but you never know. **

**I'm kinda lost with what should happen, so if you guys have any suggestions, PM me. I'd love any ideas. The well is dry, and if I keep writing with what I got, its just gonna come out as white noise, so hit me up! Thanks!**

**Keep Reading!**

**Emmdog1994**


	14. Master of Ceremonies

Chapter 14

**POV of Julius Avery, Master of Ceremonies**

"Here we are ladies and gentlemen," I say energetically into the microphone, knowing that this is being broadcast all over Panem. "We are down to our final eleven contestants after an intense bit of fighting between the pair from District 8, Drianne and Memmo, facing off against two of the favorites, Ariella and Bane.

"Two casualties were resulted, Drianne killed by Ariella, and Bane killed by Memmo, erasing District 2 from the running of this year's games, and halving the chances of a District 8 victory. Now, lets return to the arena to see what our tributes are getting up to." With this, I swept my arm up grandly at the giant screen, and watched as the screen panned in on the arena.

This first item of attention was Ariella, fresh from her fight. She was back at camp, eating nuts and bandaging the cuts and bruises across her body. The camera stayed on her just long enough to show that she was alive and recovering before it moved on to the next target.

The boy from 8, Memmo, was also bandaging wounds back at his camp which was under a grove of closely growing trees. He didn't have any cloth to tie them, nor did he have any sponsors that wanted to send him bandages. Instead, he was using a swathe of the shirt under his black jacket. The camera left him quickly enough too.

Next, the camera zoomed in on the camp of the remaining pack, Lyliss, Adonnis, and Undin. The ultra-sensitive microphones picked up every word, even from a hundred yards away.

This had been a topic of conversation throughout the capitol: Lyliss and Adonnis had shared many secret conversations about just offing Undin, Lyliss heading the effort. Adonnis maintained that, should they kill Undin, and Ariella and Bane were to attack, it would be too fair of a fight. The audience was unsure of whether they would kill him now that Bane was dead.

The group wasn't discussing that at present, however. They were discussing what they should do. They hadn't seen any real action since the first day, and they wanted to go hunting; however, they did not want to go hunting with only two people, nor to leave their supplies vulnerable with only one guard. It was a stalemate; they would not forfeit one for the other.

The announcers then came on over the screen talking about the probability of the pack seeing action soon. If they didn't go looking for tributes, the announcers reckoned that the gamemakers would bring tributes to them. They would likely want to test the pack before they found out about Bane's demise and the potential slaying of Undin.

Before the camera leaves this scene, the announcers announce that Lyliss and Adonnis are one of the four District partners remaining – they are one of the two who are still allied. With that, they flash to the scene deep in the summer section of the arena where Tellee and Tzarro sit in their blind, waiting. Waiting as they have been since that first night where Tzarro killed Veera from District 3.

Tzarro and Tellee are not presently talking, so the camera moves on to Flint, the boy from District 5 who was currently residing deep within the fall section. He was injured at the Cornucopia, and he has spent the last week lying in a tree nursing himself back to health. Finally, tonight, he is able to walk again. And with the new ability, he has also gained a few sponsors who afforded him a knife and some bread.

The part he didn't know was that the knife was not only for him to have something to cling to - it was intended as a warning. Because not more than two hundred yards away rested Kiloki, the boy from District 9. Armed with an axe but unaware of his neighbor, it was unlikely that they would be able to coexist like this for much longer.

Kiloki's District partner, Darzee, was posted up in the winter section. She was living off a hot commodity she picked up at the Cornucopia – A smokeless fire machine. It was basically a hot plate, but it didn't take a plug, and she was able to charge it with solar energy. She was currently putting it to good use, melting snow for water to drink, and living off of what few plants she could find in the frigid forest.

Also in the winter section of the forest resides Leera, the girl from District 6. While the two girls are more than a mile apart, it is unlikely that they will find each other. Both are very well hidden, and the gamemakers want to give Leera a chance to heal her broken wrist. She had gotten much better at throwing knives with her left hand during her sabbatical, but her right hand is only just coming back to full strength. She was lucky that she had good sponsors who saw her fight with Ariella on the first day – they afforded her a splint, pills to help correct broken bones, and she came by the ice without sponsors.

Having panned to all eleven remaining tributes, we began a replay of the fight between Ariella and Drianne, but the real news was that we were going to have an interview with Blythe in just a few short minutes. She had denied any interviews until she was confident she had some time to step away from the sponsors.

I checked my face in the mirror: perfect. I checked my bow tie: perfect. I was ready for Blythe.

I sat in my plush chair on stage, and as the camera man counted down from three, Blythe joined me in the chair opposite me. Though there was no real audience present, the artificial sound of applause came over the speakers.

"So, Blythe, " began, greeted by her stunning smile. "How do you feel that your tributes are doing?"

"I am extremely satisfied with both my tributes this year. They have both played brilliantly so far, but we're about to encounter some more hurdles."

"How do you mean?" I prompted her.

"Well first off, Ariella now has no allies," said Blythe. "She has plenty of supplies, but she isn't likely to take down Undin, Lyliss, and Adonnis all by herself. Undin, on the other hand, is in a very dangerous position. With the field narrowing, Lyliss and Adonnis are likely to get tired of him and kill him. He will have to be very vigilant and aware of the danger."

"That's a great synthesis of what is happening with your tributes," I told her. I thought to myself 'Man, it will be so much easier to do all this interviewing stuff when every district has a victor/mentor that I can talk to and it won't be a one man show.'

"Well thank you for having me, Julius," Blythe says, thinking I'm done.

"Just one more thing Blythe," I tell her. "You need to be here to hear this."

I then turn my attention back to the cameras. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Capitol," I say in my grandest voice. "The gamemakers wish for you to vote on the next pairing of tributes they put together. You have five choices, and the top voted on choice will be put into action. Your choices are:

Adonnis(D1), Lyliss(D1), Undin(D4) v. Tzarro(D10), Tellee(D10)

or

Ariella(D4) v. Memmo(D8)

or

Darzee(D9) v. Leera(D6)

or

Flint(D5) v. Kiloki(D9)

or

A Feast

"Okay, people of the Capitol, its up to you!" I say again, with extra verve. "Whichever gets the most votes in the next 24 hours will occur. Join us again tomorrow at high noon to see the events of the winner unfold."

With that, the camera zoned out, and I gave a relieved sigh. Those lights are hot. Those tributes are so lucky, they don't have to memorize some stupid script and stand on stage all day…

**Hey guys,**

**Sorry this chapter is so short. But some of you might have guessed it, but you get to vote! Let me know which one you want to see. Don't submit it over review because I don't want people knowing which one is going to happen before it does. PM me with your choice, and when I start the next chapter, it will be about whichever one the most people want to see. Eventually, there will be another vote. **

**The only thing I can say is that you shouldn't vote because you think one person in particular. These are the hunger games you know, nothing is for certain. **

**Also, when you vote, also vote for whose POV I should write it in. Just because it is written in their POV doesn't mean that they'll win though… haha. **

**Guys, please help me out here. I really want to incorporate you guys more into the story that are reading, so please vote. It takes two minutes lol.**

**Once again, review! Tell your friends! All that jazz. Haha next chapter should be up **_**Maybe **_**in the next week. IDK. Lol **

**Keep Reading,**

**Emmdog1994**


	15. Invitations

Chapter 15

_**Ariella Vanders, District 4**_

Bane was gone. I had cuts and bruises everywhere. Bane was gone. I was eating nuts.

And Bane was gone.

I had won my battle, but not the war. And now, I had no allies. I had no one to keep watch while I slept. I had nobody to talk to.

And Bane was gone.

I bandaged my cuts and bruises – scratches, really – and watched as the sun rose over the horizon. I drank water from the bottle beneath the tarp that Bane had rigged to collect the constant rain water.

Without someone to keep watch but also without any apparent danger, I fell straight asleep, staring up at the brightening sky. I was glad that the rain kept falling on my face: it would mask from the cameras the fact that I was crying.

I awoke hours later, drenched and quaking from the cold. I hopped in under the shelter and exchanged my soaked t-shirt and black jacket for the warm, plush, white jacket stuffed with down.

Here I curled up, beneath the tarp wrapped in a fluffy jacket, and cried. I cried harder than I've ever cried. But despite my state, I kept my head wrapped in the jacket away from the cameras. After about an hour, I made sure no evidence of my fit showed on my face, then stood erect.

I moved about camp, tidying up. I also redistributed the supplies in case I needed to make a quick getaway. I kept one bag with two water bottles, food for three days, and a pair of knives along with the book about edible plants and the poison. I left this pack by a specific tree so that I would always know where it was.

When I had nothing left to do around camp, I made my way back over to the tree with the nuts. I refilled the bag with them, then lugged them back to camp. I munched on them for a couple hours until the sun was sinking over the horizon.

I was stuffed full of nuts, trying hard to think of something to do to keep my mind off of Bane. Not doing anything made me want to cry, and I couldn't afford another outburst.

Luckily, before I could cry again, I heard them: I heard the trumpets. That meant the gamemakers had a message for us. I listened intently for the voice that would come over the speakers.

The man's voice was rich with excitement. "Congratulations to the final eleven in this year's Hunger Games! I would like to formally invite each and every one of you to a feast. Tomorrow, at first light, be at the mouth of the cornucopia. You won't want to miss this!"

A feast? What could that mean? Were they running low on ways to drive people together? That didn't seem likely. They probably just wanted to extract some blood from some of us.

The one thing I knew was that I had to go to the feast. I needed something to do, and tracking a new target seemed the perfect place to start.

Only a few minutes after the announcement of the feast, the anthem played, and both Bane's and the girl from District 8's faces were shown. This timing seemed odd. Why would they be so careful to announce the feast before showing the faces? Would something have changed if they had waited until after the faces?

I shook off the thought, and I began preparing my supplies. Whether or not I returned from the feast, I didn't want anyone else getting my supplies. I put them all in their respective bags, and hoisted the bags up into a tree. The fact that I had been camping there was obvious, so it wouldn't be hard to relocate my supplies.

I then set off with my garrote, three knives, the spikes attached to my shoes, and a jug of water. I also filled myself up on nuts before leaving so that I would have sustenance to get me through the fighting. Full to the brim, I set off through the spring section amid the ever constant rain.

The cornucopia clearing was not hard to find; it had been my home for three days. I knew exactly how to get there, and it only took me an hour of walking. I knew I was there as soon as I saw light in the dark. Any light in the night of the arena that was not the moon was fire, and the only people in the arena confident enough to light a fire were Lyliss, Adonnis, and Undin.

They were just hanging around camp. They did this for hours, trading sleeping shifts and watches. I thought longingly of the dry sleeping bags and warm fire.

There I stayed until about what I guessed was an hour until dawn, never sleeping, never moving.

I couldn't hear them, but I could see them. They had moved their camp in front of the mouth of the Cornucopia, clearly intending to guard both their supplies and the contents of the feast.

This drew to my attention the new scarcity to their supplies. They still had all the weapons, but it seemed as though the crates and boxes containing food and water were fewer. Looking just ten feet to my right, I saw a contraption very similar to one Bane had rigged up: it was a water collector.

The fact that Lyliss, Adonnis, and Undin were using rain water was an advantage that only I could put to use.

With that, I set my things down, and, as quietly as possible, set off back into the forest. When I was a safe distance away from the clearing, I broke into a full out run and made it back to my camp in less than twenty minutes.

I scaled the tree quickly, and reached the supplies. Not knowing exactly which pack what I was looking for was in, I rummaged around until I found what I was looking for: the small purple vial of poison.

Back on the ground, I allowed myself two minutes and three gulps of water. I then ran back towards my position near the clearing. I made it back just as the sky was brightening with the rising orange sun.

I gulped down water quickly, then rearmed myself with knives and the garrote. Replenished and ready to fight, I crawled to the water catching contraption. Carefully so as not to spill, I poured the entire contents of the purple vial into the small bottle at the bottom.

For a few moments, the water was purple, which worried me; however, only five seconds later, the purple dissolved into the surrounding water, and it returned to its normal transparent state.

Finally, as the sun broke over the tops of the trees opposite me, there was a tremendous crack, and a piece of land, just five feet from the pack's supply pile, opened up, and a table rose out of the ground. On it, food of all sorts was piled, some of it steaming, some of it on ice. It all looked so delicious, I just wanted to get in there and stuff it all in my mouth.

I stayed where I was. I wasn't going to be the first one to make a move, so I waited. And I waited. It seemed as if the whole world was holding its breath.

Finally, Lyliss, Undin, and Adonnis backed down from their defensive positions. I guess they were unsure as to whether or not they had company. They grabbed their weapons, and they all took seats at the table. They began eating with so much gusto; you'd think they hadn't eaten in days which was a very real possibility.

Unable to watch them eat any longer, I stood up, and I revealed myself. At the sight of me, they stood and raised their weapons to me. They looked as if they were about to charge me, when, all of a sudden, shapes began to emerge from the forest on all sides.

Across from me, I saw the boy from District 5, and not fifty yards from him stood the boy from District 9 that I had almost killed. To my right, I saw the girls from Districts 6 and 9. They were both standing in about a foot of snow, but they didn't look out of place or unkempt. They both looked good. I also noticed that the girl from 6 wore a splint on her right wrist.

And finally, to my left, I saw Tzarro. He stood tall; proud; confident. He held a sword by his side, and had a knife latched to his belt. I didn't see Tellee anywhere, but I knew she was still alive. I would remember it if her picture had been up in the sky.

You could have cut the tension with a knife.

All at once, those of us emerging from the borders ran straight at the table, hoping to get to their before everyone else did. Once we were all in a close proximity, I stopped paying attention to them, and focused on me.

I saw my first target: Standing straight in front of me, mace in hand, was Lyliss. Her teeth were bared, and she was ready. It was clear that I wasn't the only one that had been looking forward to this fight.

**Hey Guys! The next part of this chapter should be up in a couple of hours probably. I'm hoping to get it finished before I start my homework. If I'm not able to, bare with me! Sorry for the cliff hanger, but please review. I also want to know what you think is going to happen and who is going to survive… even though I already planned the feast out… lol sorry. But anyways, talk to you soon!**

**Keep reading,**

**Emmdog1994 **


	16. Casual Casualties

Chapter 16

She swung the mace straight down when I was a few feet from her. I sidestepped the blow easily, and kept running at her. The mace continued it's course towards the ground, but she expertly swung it up and around, redirecting straight at my face.

I ducked this one, and was upon her. I tackled her to the ground and felt the mace leave her grip as she raised her hands to grapple with me. We clawed at each other's faces until I remembered that I had weapons. I pulled the garrote out of my back pocket.

Quickly, I wrapped her hand that was trying to dislodge my left eye ball in the wire, and pulled taught. Surprisingly, it didn't just hold her hand; it cut through the skin. Using this new information, I yanked the wire down her arm, rolling the skin to her elbow and revealing bare, bloody muscle.

She howled in pain, and I almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

I detached one of the knives from my belt, and I quietly slit her throat. Her howling ceased; instead, the air that would have been passing through her mouth sprouted bloody bubbles from the now gaping wound.

It was too much for me to watch. I picked up the knife, and I left Lyliss to die.

Standing, I walked the twenty feet to the table. Before grabbing anything, I looked around at my surroundings. The boys from 5 and 9 were fighting Adonnis, and Undin was fighting Tzarro. The girls from 6 and 9 were rolling on the ground about fifty feet away. Until someone else felt like challenging me, I decided to grab a bite to eat.

I grabbed a pink grapefruit from the top of a pile of fruit, and I sank my teeth into it, rind and all. It was so delicious and juicy, I could hardly believe that I was being given such a delicacy in the Hunger Games arena.

That's when I heard the approaching footsteps. I turned, and saw the boy from District 8. The one who killed Bane.

He looked a thousand times more eaten up than I felt. The pain, if it were tangible, would have been leaking out of every pore in his body. There were barren tracks in the grime on his face, carved by tears. He looked so dejected and sullen, I didn't even want to do anything but comfort him.

But this was the Hunger Games. And I wasn't going to comfort anyone.

I lunged at the boy. Sad or not, he defended himself. He was unarmed which was odd. I knew for a fact that he had left the fight with Bane with both axes.

He wasn't the best hand to hand fighter, that much was apparent. My first swipe at the neck he blocked, but he was unprepared for the thundering blow I delivered to his crotch I delivered just seconds after. It was pathetic to watch him sink to his knees and to hear the whimper that escaped his lips just moments before I punched him again, this time square in the nose.

I followed him down to the ground, and I plunged the knife straight into his stomach before he could put up any more fight. And with that, his cannon fired.

I stood up again and surveyed the clearing. The girls from 9 and 6 were still stuggling for dominance, my two fights taking only about a minute a piece. Tzarro and Undin were still fencing. Adonnis had killed the boy from 5 and was working on the one from 9.

I sat down again at the table and waited for someone else to come my way. While eating some more fruit and simultaneously watching Tzarro and Undin fight. It was a very close fight.

Tzarro was clearly more talented with a sword than Undin was, but Undin was bigger and stronger, using this to his advantage; furthermore, it was clear that Tzarro was tiring faster. He mustn't have had very many long bouts before.

Undin faked right and spun, swinging his sword around to get Tzarro's left flank. Tzarro must have been anticipating the move, however, because he pounced on the attack, and batted Undin's sword away.

Undin, now weaponless and one stroke away from being a bloody mess on the ground, took off into the forest. I was perplexed as to why Tzarro didn't pursue him. He merely stood and watched as Undin ran closer and closer to the summer section.

Then I saw why.

Just when Undin was a few feet from the tree line, I detected movement. Just to his right, a figure popped out of a bush. The sword in her hand flashed in the sun light as it imbedded itself deep within Undin's stomach.

It was Tellee.

I was shocked. I couldn't ever picture Tellee doing something like that. Not only that, it surprised me that Tellee knew how to handle a sword that well. Unlike an untrained swordsman who would have hacked straight at Undin's gut, she used the expert form of diving the point in and sliding out. It was clear that she, like Tzarro, had some tricks up her sleeve.

Tzarro beckoned for Tellee to join him in the clearing. He picked up his sword, and began walking over to me. I quickly hopped up from where I was, and I faced him. I pulled the garrote tight in my hands, and I double checked that the knives were secure in my belt.

He stopped about ten feet from me. The sword was still raised, but he wore a smile. "You gonna strangle me there, Ariella?" he called playfully.

"Only if you try to skewer me," I retorted, trying hard not to smile. I couldn't be sure that this meeting was going to be as cordial as he was trying to make it.

"Well then I guess we're at a stalemate," he said. I simply nodded in reply. "So here is what we do," he said. "I will wait until you decide to do, but first you have to duck."

"Why the hell should I do that?" I ask.

That's when I hear the knife whistling through the air.

I duck, but not in time. The knife catches me in the lower back, slicing easily through the skin and sliding deeply into my flesh.

I scream. I turn to see the girl from District 6 retreating from the bloody body of the District 9 girl. I fall to the ground, and slide slowly into a hazy darkness.

**Hey guys! **

**I hope you liked this chapter. It's awfully action packed which is my favorite to write. I hope its up to the standards some of you have set for this story. Let me know what you think. **

**I would really love reviews from you who are reading, but just creeping around in the shadows! Thank you to all of you who are reviewing consistently: Wintermoth, Kelley A. It is so appreciated!**

**K guys, could be a little while until the next chapter, I've got a math final coming up that I'm spending most of my time studying for. But it **_**is **_**on the way.**

**Keep Reading!**

**Emmdog1994**


	17. Reunion

Chapter 17

**POV of Tzarro, District 10**

I looked down at her with her mane of matted red hair. It reminded me of the time when her hair was clean and neatly combed, blowing in the wind. That memory is what compelled me to take her.

I could have just left her to die, which she was obviously just minutes from doing. I grabbed her and her backpack that was sitting by the table of food, and took off towards the summer section which we had made our home.

Tellee picked up stride next to me about half way there. "How deep did the knife go?" she asked.

"About two inches," I told her. "I don't think it hit anything that she can't survive from, but she is losing a lot of blood."

We kept running until we breached the trees. We found a small open space and began to work on Ariella's wound.

We didn't have much, so we called to the skies a list of things we needed. Ariella must have had good sponsors though because what we got was high tech medicine. We got a pill that would slow her heart rate, and another that would increase blood production. The third parachute carried, not a needle and thread like we had asked for, but an acid adhesive that burned the two sides of the wound together. The whole thing took about two minutes.

We also decided that Ariella needed some water, so we went through her bag. We found the water, but we couldn't help looking through the rest of what she brought.

She had no shortage of weapons, but she hadn't brought much food. What she did have was a book on edible plants in each of the sections of the arena. It was a great book with detailed drawings of plants and the best places to find them.

After about an hour of letting her rest, we decided that we needed to make our way back to camp. I once again hoisted Ariella's now tiny frame over my shoulder and set off.

It occurred to me then how much weight everyone had lost in the last week. Nobody had evaded the look of not eating anything in a week, and everyone had to be hungry. But the one thing that I noticed at the feast more than anything was the hollow look in everyone's eyes. We had all seen enough to last a life time.

We made it back to camp towards the end of the day. I set Ariella on the ground, allowing Tellee to examine her. Meanwhile, I took the book of plants and began searching for a new supply of food. We had foolishly forgotten to grab anything from the feast, and what Ariella had brought wouldn't last for long.

I came upon a bush with a large number of berries on every branch. The book told us to avoid the berries, but the roots were edible. I used a knife from Ariella's pack and dug them up. They were surprisingly long, and there was no shortage. They would create a very decent supper tonight.

I carried the roots back to camp where I found Ariella had begun to stir. It wouldn't be long before she woke up.

Tellee and I ate as we watched the faces in the sky. First came the beautiful girl from District 1, Lyliss, I think her name was. Second was Undin, the boy from Ariella's district. The boy from 5 next, then the boy from 8. The girl from District 9 came next, Darzee. I only remembered her name because she had tried to make an alliance with Tellee on the first day. The final picture was the boy from District 9. And with that, the screen blacked out of existence.

I offered to take first, just as I usually did. Tellee didn't have any objections, so she went to sleep. I settled down on a rock near where Ariella was tossing and turning, and began the monotonous chore of looking for something suspicious.

In the silent darkness, I counted on my fingers the number of tributes left. Me and Tellee from District 10 – We were the only full district remaining. Then came Ariella, probably the most lethal of those left. Adonnis, the boy from District 1. He was only alive because of who he happened to fight at the feast. If Ariella had attacked him instead of Lyliss, she would still be alive.

The only other person alive was the girl from District 6. She had been nothing in my mind before the feast – one of the people that was finding some simple way of sustaining themselves, probably just hiding out until forced to fight. But at the feast, I had seen why she was still alive. She was a killer.

So that was it. Five of us left.

That's when a thought hit me. With that few of people left, why did I save Ariella? I could be two days away from being forced to kill her.

And I would kill her.

But first I needed to see how strong she was when she woke up. If she was a vegetable, or if she simply wouldn't wake up, we would have no choice but to kill her. But if she was pretty much back to normal, then we would have a decision to make: do we keep her alive, and she could help us win? Or do we kill her and be that much closer to victory.

My attention was brought back to Ariella when a small moan escaped her lips. Slowly, in the flickering light of the dying fire, her eyes fluttered open.

"Ariella?" I said quietly, hoping not to wake Tellee.

"I should have ducked," is how she responded. It caught me off guard, and I was suddenly on the ground quaking with silent laughter. She, too, was trying and failing to bate off the giggles which were obviously painful for her.

"Ya," I told her. "You should have. But there isn't any good in crying over spilled milk."

"Who is left?" she asked.

"Just us three, Adonnis, and the girl from District 6," I answered more quietly, trying not to sound too somber.

"That's good," she said, unnaturally upbeat. It kind of disturbed me how casually she was taking all the death around her.

"Umm… Ya, I guess." I couldn't really bring myself to say much more than that.

"Tzarro?" she said in a pathetic sort of voice. "Do you have any food?"

"Ya, we got some of this root," I told her. Suddenly, a devious little voice whispered something in my head, and I relayed the message. "And we have a berry bush that we've been eating off of…"

"Oh, well they both sound pretty good," she said. I told her that I was going to prepare her supper, and I made my way over to the berry bush. I grabbed some more of the roots and began picking off the berries from the foliage that we had discarded. I knew they were poisonous now, and I had just decided that these games would be better without Ariella.

I brought back the plants and was about ready to boil the roots. Ariella joined me by the fire and helped me put more wood on. I did my best not to show her the berries in case she recognized them. I didn't let her inspect them, and I kept them at a distance so she couldn't see them in the dim light.

I was suddenly hyper aware of what I was about to do. I was going to kill Ariella without even discussing this with Tellee. But I knew Tellee would be okay with it. She was my new best friend, and she was behind me no matter what. I knew she was secretly afraid that us keeping Ariella would drive a wedge between us.

When the roots were done boiling, I put them in the bowl we had boiled the roots in, and I handed them to Ariella.

She looked at the food for a moment, then dug in to the roots. "Delicious…" she said. Then she started gagging. "I think I'm going to throw up," she said. She tossed the bowl up into the air and ran a couple of yards into the forest.

I imagined that she must have eaten one or two of the berries. They were going to kill her any second, then I would hear the cannon.

When the cannon shot off, I was not surprised. I turned around to tell Tellee that I had killed Ariella, and that's when I came to my senses.

I saw Ariella there, fully alive, standing over Tellee.

I also saw her arms wrapped around Tellee, almost cradling her head.

And I also saw the odd angle that Tellee's neck was sprouting off at…

**Hey guys! I hope you liked this chapter, and I know its kind of short. Love it? Hate it? Let me know through review or PM. **

**Also, I'm going to be going out of the country for two weeks, leaving tomorrow. So I'm going to start the next chapter, and whatever I have done before I leave, I'll put up, finished or not.**

**On a final note, we're really nearing the end of the games. So I want your opinion on who should win. Don't post your pick over review, I want PMs only on this one. Your choices are:**

**Adonnis, District 1**

**Ariella, District 4**

**Leera, District 6**

**Tzarro, District 10**

**Thanks for reading guys, I really hope you like it, and I will finish this up as soon as I can!**

**Keep reading,**

**Emmdog1994**


	18. Rebound

Chapter 18

**POV of Ariella, District 4**

I looked down at the pan of roots and berries. The roots, I recognized. I had eaten them, what, twenty-four hours ago? And now this dummy was trying to feed me the poisonous berries? Who did he think he was!

Doing my best not to alert Tzarro to the fact that I was onto him, I started eating the roots. I had eaten two mouthfuls, being sure not to get any of the berries in my mouth, then started faking sickness. Tzarro seemed to believe my condition: why shouldn't he? He expected me to die.

I gave a few fake retches from behind my bush, then took on the velvety tread I had acquired over my months of training and days in the arena. I sneaked around to the other side of camp where Tellee was resting and approached her, careful not to alert her to my presence.

Tzarro didn't notice anything. He didn't notice when I stepped out of the shadow. He didn't notice when I gripped Tellee's head, one hand on top, one on bottom.

He noticed when I pulled, snapping her neck. I don't know if it was the quiet pop and crackle as the bones in her spine separated. I don't know if it was the sound of Tellee's last breath escaping her lungs. Perhaps it was the cannon that he assumed was signaling my death.

But what I do know is that he noticed. And he turned.

The realization of what was happening flashed across his face the moment he saw me and Tellee locked in that seemingly intimate pose. It might have been intimate if Tellee's neck wasn't protruding at a grotesque angle.

He was unarmed. He would have been an easy target. However well trained in swordsmanship, he was no match for me hand to hand. I could see the easiest path was to push him into the fire, then if he was still capable of fighting after that, there were any number of potential weapons lying around: Tellee's sword, my pack of weapons, the pan he had boiled the roots in.

Tzarro had only one option. And he knew it.

He took off running. I pursued him for a short time, but it was apparent almost instantaneously that I was no match for him on foot, especially with the wound on my back. It didn't hurt very bad, but it strained at nearly every movement. It wasn't a good idea to test it's limits.

I returned to camp just as the hovercraft was about to collect Tellee. Struck by sudden inspiration, I grabbed both swords and shoved them deep into Tellee's abdomen. I had two more swords back at camp, but there was no way those could be used against me – they were too well hidden.

The hovercraft resumed collecting Tellee, taking the two swords with her body. I grabbed the backpack that Tzarro had left lying next to the fire. Inside, I found everything that had been inside before the feast, including the book of edible plants. It was good to know that this turn of the tides had favored me in most ways.

Like Tzarro, I took off running through the forest. I arm myself with a pair of knives tucked into my belt and the rest of my pack on my back. I don't really expect to encounter anyone, especially now that there are so few in the arena.

I keep running at a leisurely pace in the direction that Tzarro ran, hoping that I'll encounter the cornucopia soon. The thought pulls me up short, however, because I have no idea where the cornucopia is. I was unconscious for the hike here, and I forgot to ask Tzarro in which way we came. I can only keep walking and hope to encounter something familiar.

I keep walking, sometimes taking a few gulps of water, other times grabbing some leaves I recognize as edible. My strength is returning to me, but the wound in my side continues to slow me down.

I can see that the wound looks completely healed now, and just feels sore. I guess that some intense medicine from the capitol must have been administered to me for my recovery. It seems lucky that Tzarro didn't decide to kill me until I was already conscious.

I kept walking into through the forest. By this time, the first rays of sun are peeking over the tops of trees to my back, so I can see where I'm going. It doubles my rate of forward progress, no longer having to inch forward, scared to hit trees in the dim moonlight.

When the sun told me it was about nine o'clock in the morning, I encountered something. All of the trees turned suddenly from green and full of life to orange and dead looking. It was clear that this was the border between the summer and fall sections. I continued down this path and came out in the cornucopia clearing in less than an hour.  
I saw the remains of the fighting at the feast. It was just yesterday, but it felt like so long ago. I walked over to the pile of boxes that had once housed so many supplies picked up at the cornucopia on the first day. They now stood empty except for a few things that had clearly been judged useless by whoever had ravaged the area.

I picked up a length of rope and a round mirror. The mirror could have some uses if I had a partner, perhaps sending signals or attracting attention from afar. But I could see no use for it on my own, but I picked it up anyway.

The string I left in the box, and I began walking towards the spring section where all of my supplies were hidden. It felt like I was going home – going home after a long day at the office.

Walking through the first layer of trees, I found something that brought back a memory of the day before: a water collector. I could tell it was the same one because the small vial of poison that I had poured into it was buried in a pile of leaves about ten feet away from it.

I grabbed the water jug and carried it out towards the cornucopia. I set it in the empty boxes, hoping to lure a weary competitor to drink it. I also placed a loaf of bread and a knife with a chipped end so that they would not be so suspicious of the water jug.

Once again, I turned my back on the scene, and I headed for the spring section of the arena. The gentle patter of rain was cooling and comforting. After a long day of trekking in the summer forest, I was hot and ready for a nap.

The trek back to camp took longer than I remembered. What had been an hour run was a four hour walk. By the time I reached my home I was exhausted beyond anything I had ever felt, and the fatigue pulled me down under the welcoming dryness of the tarp covered bed.

When I woke, it was dark. The blackness surrounded me except for the flashes of light that came from somewhere over the tops of trees. Curious, I climbed up into my tree and looked out over the arena. I could not make out much detail, but the flashes were definitely coming from the fall section of the arena.

They were definitely some sort of device to drive tributes together. I was curious as to who the two unlucky souls were that were chosen to be herded into each other to draw blood and end the life of the other.

The lights stopped flashing at the same time the cannon fired. Somebody was dead, but we, the fourth, uninvolved tribute and I, would not find out who until the following day.

I climbed back down the tree and laid down again. My mind was busy contemplating the different scenarios of who I might next have to kill. It was down to only three possibilities:

Perhaps I would fight Adonnis. He was all brawn, no brains. He could fight well, but he had only one setting: go. He never tried to analyze a situation. He was predictable. I couldn't match his strength, but kill him? Yes.

Another alternative was Tzarro: Tzarro would be tricky. His preferred weapon was obviously the sword, a weapon I couldn't hope to go toe to toe with him on. Therefore, I might have to find a way to get in close to him, or perhaps try to kill him from afar. I was a good shot with a bow, which I had, or throwing knives. The knives I had an unlimited supply of, so it seemed a decent strategy for now without really knowing what laid ahead.

The last possibility was that I could fight Leera, the girl from District 6. I hated her, this girl I had never met. I hoped she was still alive so that I would get a chance to kill her. She was the only person in this arena who had landed an unanswered blow on me. Everyone else who caused me bodily harm was dead: but not her. Her and her stupid throwing knives. If I fought her, it would not be hard to kill her. I would find a way in close where she couldn't launch one of those things my way. And if we met, she would suffer for hours before I let her slip into a peaceful death.

And on that happy note, I fell straight to sleep and didn't dream at all.

**Hey guys,**

**SO SORRY its been so long. I just got back from Spain. I know I promised to put what I had written up before I left but I forgot. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, kind of setting up for the next one. But who do you think died? And who do you think should go next? Final two bets? Anything, let me know. Once the final two are decided, I might try the whole "sponsor a tribute" thing. The next chapter should narrow it down, and that will be that!**

**I'm also trying to decide what my next story should be. I don't want to do the third hunger games, but I was thinking of writing one of the stories of one of the victors in Catching Fire that haven't had their stories written yet. So I'm going to make a poll on my profile with four choices for whose story I should do, and please please vote. Anyway, hope you stay tuned for the conclusion of this story, next chapter should be up very soon.**

**Keep reading**

**Emmdog1994**


	19. Die and Dye

Chapter 19

**POV of Tzarro, boy from District 10**

Last night was rough: I failed to kill Ariella. Ariella killed Tellee. I had to abandon my camp. When I returned, my only weapon was nowhere to be found. When I searched for water, I wandered into the fall section. I tried to follow the border to the cornucopia, but I got stranded up in a tree after a lightning storm began circling high over an area of the fall section, maybe a mile away from where I was.

It was so loud, the claps of thunder. They seemed to burst my eardrums. The only assurance I got that my ears were still functioning was that I could hear the following clap of thunder. I sat there a solid ten minutes, waiting for the storm to pass over me. But it never did, it just circled high over that one little area.

It became clear to me that the storm must have been a device to draw two together. I hoped that Ariella was one of them. I wanted her gone, out of the equation. She was too good at this game. And there would be no end of gloating from District 4 if they had two champions in a row. It would be unbearable.

I fell asleep in that tree, cold and tired. I woke with cold sweats and body aches. My nose was running and I was coughing uncontrollably. I was overjoyed to see the silver parachute floating down through the trees, and then disheartened at what I found: a simple surgical mask used to dampen the noise made by my cough.

Surely, this meant I had few sponsors. Either that or my stupid capitol mentor, Eliah, hated me. But since me winning meant that he didn't have to be a mentor anymore, it was probably because I didn't have sponsors.

I wasn't surprised. Why would anyone sponsor me with Ariella in the picture? She was everything a tribute was supposed to be: Beautiful, Clever, and Lethal. Most importantly, however, was that she was alive.

And that was my fault.

If Ariella wasn't alive, Tellee would be. We would have sponsors out the wazoo, being the only united pair. I would have never caught this cold because I would have been safely in the summer section where the nights are warm. But if I had, I would have been able to afford actual medicine, not a noise dampener.

Life sucked.

I was tired.

I was hungry.

I was thirsty.

And I was sick.

Life sucked.

It took quite a while to pull myself out of the tree, surgical mask applied and everything. But I did it. When I was on the ground, I began following the border like I had begun to do yesterday. It was easy to follow, a very distinct border between the two areas. Before I knew it, I was back in the clearing.

There were boxes of supplies left near the cornucopia. They were not brimming as they had been on the first day, but there were still a few things inside that people had clearly seen as useless. There was a spool of thread that I could use to make a multitude of things: traps, bola balls, a garrote, a bow.

Beside the thread there was a broken knife. The top inch or so had been chipped away, but the metal was still sharp and could be turned into a lethal weapon easily.

Most importantly, I saw a nearly empty jug of water and a loaf of stale bread. I was beyond caring that the bread was stale, so I dug into it with verve. The dry grain depleted my mouth of what little saliva I had been clinging to.

Hoping to quench my monstrous thirst, I lifted the jug into my mouth and chugged it.

I didn't feel anything at first. But then I began to feel… strange…

It felt like my stomach was a large pot, and its contents were beginning to boil. That's when the pain hit.

Ripping the shirt off my back, I looked down at my abdomen. The skin was red, and began to bubble. It seriously felt like a fire was raging through my body. I could hear myself screaming, and I couldn't stop. It was taking over everything, even my mind. I couldn't form a complete thought.

'Water…

Poison…

Ariella…

Bitch…'

I felt my heart stop then. You wouldn't think you would, considering you don't feel it when its beating. But for some reason, when it stops, it feels as if something vital is missing. Possibly because it is…

Without my heart, breathing began to get difficult. The action itself was still easy, but it didn't satisfy. It was only that – an action.

The edges of my vision began to darken. It was as though I was staring through a straw, but the straw kept getting narrower and narrower. Finally, as the last rays of light left my vision, I felt my last breath leave my mouth.

**POV of Ariella, girl from District 4**

I was woken at midday by the sound of a cannon. That was the third death in less that 24 hours, it left only me and one other person. Surely the gamemakers wouldn't force us to fight today, it was too soon after the other deaths. Whoever had killed the other two would want a day of rest.

The magnitude of what I had done hit me then. I had outlasted 22 others. I was a final competitor in the second Hunger Games. Win or lose, I would be remembered. But I didn't want to be _just _remembered as a runner up. I wanted to be remembered as a champion. _The _champion.

I busied myself preparing a large meal. I didn't want to have to fight on an empty belly.

Eventually, I came upon a bush covered with berries. These were not the same berries that Tzarro had tried to feed me – they were darker. More maroon than red.

I squished one in between my fingers. Not only did a lot of juice come out, but when I wiped it away, I saw that it stained my skin.

Consulting the book, I saw that the berries were not poisonous at all; however, they were among the worst tasting berries to be found anywhere in the world. Disbelieving, I popped one in my mouth, and it quickly came right back out, along with the contents of my stomach.

Furthermore, the book went on to tell that the berry was used with much success as a dye in the capitol. That explained why it wouldn't come off of my hands.

Suddenly, I had an idea. It was odd at best, crazy at worst. But it couldn't hurt, and it would occupy my mind for a while.

I began crushing a bunch of berries against a rock and collected the juice in a leaf. Once I had a bunch of the juice, and using the help of my new mirror, I began drawing war paint on my face. When I was done with my face, I began the pattern up and down my arms. The task was so pleasant to have that I covered my legs too with the paint.

When I was read from head to toe, I began looking for some other way to decorate my body. The answer came in the shape of three long black feathers that I found not far from camp. I braided them into my hair.

Looking in the mirror, I saw what I had turned myself into: I was a warrior.

Darkness fell around me. The luster of painting my body had worn off. I ate my dinner in silence, waiting for the anthem to start and the faces to appear in the sky.

Eventually, the seal of the capitol appeared in the sky, accompanied by the music. I help my breath as the seal morphed into a face…

The face of Adonnis. And his face was followed by Tzarro.

So I would get my chance at Leera…

I couldn't help letting a smile escape my lips.

**Hey guys!**

**So that's it, Ariella vs. Leera final. They seemed to be the two that most people wanted anyway, so I couldn't go against you guys. I think this is the first chapter I've ever written in one sitting, so I feel accomplished. Be sure to let me know who you want to win over PM cuz I haven't even decided yet. The final fight will be in Ariella's perspective probably, but, as you've seen with my last story, that doesn't mean she is going to win…**

**Be sure to check out my profile and vote on my poll please! I really want to keep you guys as readers, and I feel like I can do that better if I know what you want to read. So help me out here peeps, input is always appreciated. As always, please review and let me know what you think. **

**Keep reading,**

**Emmdog1994**


	20. Sunset

Chapter 20

The anthem had been over for no more than ten seconds when I began climbing the tree. I reached the place where I had stashed my three packs of supplies, and I threw them down towards my camp. They made a tremendous sound when they hit the ground, but I was beyond caring at this point.

Once on the ground again, I emptied all three packs and the other that I had taken with me to the feast onto the ground and began sifting through the supplies. What I really lacked was light, so I adorned the night vision goggles to aid me. It made the job infinitely easier.

Win or lose, I doubted that I'd be coming back here. I needed to bring whatever I would need with me. And to decide what I would need, I had to think about what I knew about Leera:

I knew better than anyone that she could throw knives. She had hit me from over thirty yards away. Another memory, this one less clear, from the very first day, of when she and I fought hand to hand came to mind. My flexibility had saved me after I disarmed her with my foot. But beyond praise, this memory reminded me that she was a skilled fighter hand to hand.

I started by putting my trusted garrote in my back pocket. Next, I put two knives in my belt loops, and I was looking for a place to put a few more when a silver parachute came crashing through the foliage above.

I unwrapped the silky fabric from the gift. Inside, a pair of silvery gloves were folded, one inside of the other. I unwrapped them and put them on. Surprisingly, they were rather heavy.

Unsure of what I was supposed to do with the gloves, I began touching things with them, picking up a few knives and throwing them. They didn't make me throw more accurately, nor harder.

I tried picking up a mace. I took the proper position, lined up, and swung the heavy, spiked ball at the thin tree growing off to the side of my camp. I still couldn't detect a difference.

I grabbed another knife. Timidly, I put the edge of the blade to the glove and attempted to cut the fabric.

Nothing happened.

Again, I tried to cut the fabric, this time harder. The knife didn't even scratch it. So they were for protection.

Deciding to perform another test, using a sword, I cut the spiked ball off of one of my two maces. I threw the ball up in the air almost to the tops of the trees. When the heavy ball feel back to the ground, I held out my left hand, and let the ball hit it, not trying to catch it.

I could barely feel it when the ball contacted. I felt the jarring feeling, but I wasn't affected at all by the sharp spikes protruding from the ball. Obviously, these were gloves meant to protect my hands from getting cut up.

"Thank you, Blythe," I say, loud enough that I am sure she can hear it. "Thanks also to all of my sponsors," I say. That was sufficient for the time being.

I continued arming myself with knives. Next came a bow and a quiver of arrows. Finally, I reattached the spikes to the bottoms of my shoes. They were intended for use in the winter section, but they could also be used as a weapon. They were lightweight and wouldn't drag me down, so why not bring them?

Finally ready, I said goodbye to my camp. It had served me well, as had my weapons and supplies. I had lived a life of near luxury in these games compared to those who had had to hunt and gather to sustain themselves. But it wasn't like I hadn't worked for my bounty – I had earned it. I had fought for it at the cornucopia on the first day, and I had stolen it with Bane a few days later.

I took a final swig of water and a pouch of nuts from my tree to nibble on while I walked. It was still the middle of the night, but I knew where the final battle would take place: the Cornucopia – where it all began.

The trek didn't seem so long this time. I was well rested and well fed, and I knew that, win or lose, this would all be over in a matter of hours. Of course, the 'lose' part of that knowledge meant death, but I didn't dwell on this fact.

I finally breached the layer of trees separating the forest from the clearing. Still wearing the night vision glasses, I checked to make sure that Leera wasn't already in the clearing. I saw that the coast was clear, so I made my way over to the Cornucopia.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the water jug that I had poisoned was gone. Somebody must have drunk it, else it would still be here. I was glad that my poison had gotten some use out of it.

I climbed over to the giant, metal Cornucopia and climbed up it. The metal was freezing against my skin, but it was better than in the day when it was scalding hot. There, on top of the Cornucopia, is where I waited. And waited.

The sun rose, the birds sang, and Leera didn't show. I was extremely annoyed that she wouldn't show up to fight me. Surely she wanted to get out of this arena as much as I did, right?

I had to order lunch from the sky. It came, but it wasn't an extravagant meal like I had expected. I got one loaf of bread and a jug of water. This was a clear message from Blythe that the money from sponsors was running out and not to ask for anything unless it was completely necessary.

The day was scorching hot in the clearing. I had to lay my black jacket around to sit on, else my legs would have been burned by the hot metal. I was getting extremely bored.

Finally, after waiting all day for something to happen, I heard it. It was as if a thousand babies were crying, all in unison. It was so pitiful and yet so horrifying that it made you want to cringe, but also to comfort whatever was making that noise.

I turned in the direction it was coming from – the fall section. There stood Leera, just at the edge.

She didn't look good at all. She had gashes all over her arms, face, and legs. She was also panting hard, clearly having run from whatever was chasing her for a very long time. I doubted she would be up to fighting me.

Perfect!

I hopped down from the Cornucopia and ran at her. I didn't care if she was injured or tired, she was going to fight me, and she was going to fight me now.

She noticed me coming at her, and she did what she has done through these whole games – she threw a knife at me. But then I did what I had never been able to do before: I reached up and grabbed the knife out of the air. My gloves protected my flesh from the spinning blade.

The shock registered on her face immediately. It doubled when I threw her own knife back at her.

She dodged, but it was clear that she wasn't even half as nimble as she had been before she fought either Tzarro or Adonnis.

I threw everything aside except for one knife and my garrote. I decided that this fight wasn't going to be decided quickly enough from a distance of more than three feet, and I was very impatient after a whole day of sitting in the sun.

I attacked with the knife. She parried with her own knife, then punched me in the nose. I stumbled backwards as the blood started streaming. I launched myself at her again, this time waiting for her to strike.

She aims her knife straight at my face. I grab the blade with my gloved hand. With all my strength I twist, and she drops the knife.

Now it is my turn to attack. I fake to the right like I am going for her neck, but instead I turn and thrust the blade into her abdomen.

She screams, her eyes closed, mouth opened wide. I punch her in the windpipe and she falls over backwards.

I aim the next attack at her heart but she deflects the knife off of her hand. It begins bleeding heavily, but it isn't fatal.

With a clever move, she disarms me by faking from the top but really coming from the right. When I see that she has the knife, I draw my garrote and stand poised to defend.

She slowly begins backing up, back into the trees, but I will not allow her to take cover. She is losing a lot of blood from the wound in her side, and this will be over very soon unless she manages to escape.

When there are more than five feet between us, she throws the knife, turns, and runs. I dodge the knife with a little difficulty and take off after her.

It takes less than fifty yards for me to catch and tackle her, then I am on top of her. I flip her over so that I and the audience that I am sure I have can see her face.

"So Leera," I begin in a tone somewhere between triumphant and gloating. "I'd like to start off by telling you how great of a game you played. But unfortunately, one of us has to lose, and that one is you."  
"You can burn in hell," she tells me, doing her best not

"Perhaps I will," I tell her. "See you there!" is all I say as I grab my garrote, twist it around her throat, and begin strangling her.

I stare her down the entire time, the whole two minutes it takes her to die. She attempts to fake death to see if I will let go, but she eventually reveals that it was a ruse.

I hold tight until I hear the cannon, until I hear the sound of Julius Avery and the adoring fans in the capitol, screaming their approval.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," says Julius Avery. "I give you the winner of the second Hunger Games, Ariella Vanders, Tribute from District 4!"

**Hey Guys**

**I never planned on having two District 4 girls win in a row, but so many people wanted her to win, how could I deny them? Its not over, I'm going to have one more chapter before I call this one quits, but it should be short. Thank you all for reading this story and being so faithful. I would appreciate one more review if you don't mind. A special thanks to the following for supporting the whole time:**

**Kelley A**

**Wintermoth**

**Meea123**

**You guys have been so great, reviewing often and always giving me constructive criticism, so thank you. It really motivated me to keep writing knowing that somebody would let me know they liked it.**

**Finally, please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please vote for which story you would like me to write next on my profile. I really want to get a large number of votes before I make my decision. **

**So until then, I leave you once more.**

**Keep reading,**

**Emmdog1994**


	21. Resolutions

Chapter 21

I woke up repeatedly, each time, restrained by a leather band around my waist. I would wake just long enough to eat a few bites, then a cold liquid would flow through the iv in my arm, and I would be knocked out.

Each time, I became more and more beautiful. My skin became clearer and less damaged, and pretty soon, none of my scars were visible. And finally, when every visible part of my body was more beautiful, it was over. Also, I was no longer hooked up to any machines or restrained by a leather band.

I found an outfit waiting for me at the foot of the bed, and I was only a little shocked when I realized that it was the outfit that all the tributes had worn in the arena. I put it on, and walked the perimeter of the room until a hidden door opened for me.

"Ariella!" I heard. I turned, and I saw Blythe, Lillianna, and Heebee waiting for me. I ran at them, and I threw myself into the arms of Blythe. I was genuinely happy to see her even though we hadn't been on the best of terms before the games.

We spent the rest of the day discussing various aspects of the games, how I had killed some of the others and how the Capitol had reacted. Apparently, the Capitol was absolutely in love with me, and I was going to be one of their favorite people for a very long time.

Heebee began dressing me for a while, and soon I was in an elegant – yet skimpy – aqua green dress. I was beautiful, or so everyone told me.

That night, I was brought up on stage through the floor, a crown was placed on my head, and I sat with Julius Avery as I watched the recaps of the games:

It started with the Reapings. I saw as 24 kids stepped forward, 23 of them to their deaths.

Next, the movie cut right to the opening ceremonies. I saw our costumes again, the elegant mermaid like costume. It was clear now that I was the center of attention from the start.

This was followed by our training scores, then the interviews. We only watched snippets of all the other tributes, but we got to see mine in full. I remembered now how I had made a costume change in the middle of the interview to illustrate my ability to play multiple roles.

The games started then. I got to watch the bloodbath in full, but also got to watch as I smashed that boy from 6's face again and again… in slow motion. The crowd was going ballistic, but I just wanted to get on with the games. I wanted to see things about them that I hadn't already.

I watched the first night where we had seen Tzarro behead the girl hanging from a tree. This was quickly followed by my fight against the two boys.

Then, for the first time that night, I saw something I had not seen. The four other pack members, including Bane, conversed about killing me in my sleep. Lyliss and Undin were the leaders of the charge, insisting that I was too dangerous to be allowed to live. It was Bane that saved me, insisting that I was still valuable while I was loyal and to give me a few more nights.

The movie went on to show the great escape of Bane and I, and the fury of Lyliss. She was so enraged at that point, it now seemed to founded having heard Bane save me.

The film skipped ahead to the next night when we met the pair from 8. I watched as I killed the girl and as Bane's life was taken from him. Then, I saw myself crying for Bane. It was the only point throughout the games where I showed any emotion at all.

The next sight was the feast. I got to watch in full both of my fights, one against Lyliss, and the other against the boy from District 8. Both were very quick and very brutal. Of the other fights, I only saw the death blows. Then, the video showed Leera's knife enter my side and me black out.

The next thing that is shown is Tzarro attempting to poison me, then me killing Tellee. I feel kind of bad when I find out that she had no part in my poisoning, but quickly dismiss the feeling.

Tzarro runs from me, then I trek back to the cornucopia and poison the water. Not more than a day later, Tzarro drinks the water and dies what I find myself hoping was a painful death.

The lightning storm I saw was to bring Adonnis and Leera together in the fall section. I watch the entire fight, not having seen it myself. Leera was very creative with her throwing of knives, and Adonnis was already injured from the feast. Eventually, she runs out of knives and has to go in with just her fists against Adonnis' sword. Amazingly, she takes him down and kills him with his own sword; however, she sustained multiple gashes from that fight.

The next day, she was chased to the edge of the cornucopia clearing by a pack of mutant horses with eyes made of fire and fangs. It was clear that she was still too hurt from her previous fight to compete with me, but the Gamemakers forced her there regardless.

The final fight is shown in full, and the movie concludes with the last image of me before I am sucked up into the hover craft. The crowd breaks out into tremendous applause. Thus, my interview begins.

When the interview is over, I go to a dinner put on to thank my _many _sponsors, mostly gross old men who seemed to bet on me, not because I was supposed to win the games, but because of how I looked. It was creepy yet enjoyable to know I was so well received.

The next night, we had one final dinner to attend at the President's mansion, then we boarded the train for home. I was so relieved to be going home that I could barely eat on the train.

When we reached the station, I jumped out of the car onto the platform. The cameras clicked and flashed intensely as I flew to my father and wrapped my arms around him.

It wasn't until I looked up into his eyes that I noticed the change.

Underneath the weary, wrinkly eyes I had known my entire life was a new emotion.

Fear.

I had just done a great deed, but I was not being received the way I would have liked to.

This new look, this new emotion I sensed in my father's eyes, it left me wondering.

Wondering what I did wrong and where I went wrong…

**Hey People!**

**I'm so sorry this last story took so long. With the games over, it just took a little more motivation to write this, so I'm sorry for the delay. I will start preparing for my newest story, the first chapter of which should be out in approximately one week featuring… MAGS! The poll was tied between two, so I asked my three most dedicated reviewers for this story to vote. I hope you will all put me on your author alerts, and I look forward to writing for you again!**

**With love, signing out from 'The Second Hunger Games', **

**Emmdog1994**


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